


Lovers By A Lonely Mountain

by ha5rika



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Bottom Jared, Dragon Jensen, Dragons, Human Jared, Inspired by The Hobbit, M/M, Top Jensen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-05-09 06:01:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5528723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ha5rika/pseuds/ha5rika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Come, gather around. Let me tell you the tale of an unlikely love that blossomed on the cliffs of a lonely mountain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heartblowswild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartblowswild/gifts).



> This work is in its final stages so you will receive weekly updates. This story was inspired by the Hobbit in a weird way and is told in a story book format. 
> 
> This fic was written as a gift for [Alex](http://heartblowswild.tumblr.com/) who is a wonderful person. 
> 
> And Merry Christmas you filthy animals :D <3

_I see fire, inside the mountain,_

_I see fire, burning the trees,_

_I see fire, hollowing souls,_

_I see fire, blood in the breeze,_

_And I hope that you’ll remember me._

 

 

Long, long ago on a lonely mountain lived a dragon.

Not just any mountain. A great mountain – whose face the Sun kissed before any other, whose shadow loomed like dark clouds on a thunder night, whose slopes were filled with jungles and waterfalls. Only a dragon could conquer such a mountain. And not just any dragon, but a dragon of great strength. A dragon whose fire could melt the rocks of the Old age and whose wings could blow a hurricane away.

At least that was what the legends said.

One dragon lived on the mountain for, what they say was, a thousand years. A dragon breathed death, its scales an invincible armor. That was why the mountain remained lonely for all those long years.

Then came the humans. A weary bunch they were. They had walked for miles and miles, through caves and across valleys, sailed over lakes in boats, torches held alight above their heads, looking for a new place to plough. You see, they had cultivated their land to exhaustion, led by a Master whose eyes only sparkled at the sight of gold, and they had gone hungry when the last crop brought no fruit.

They found the lonely mountain, standing proud with clouds swirling over its head and untouched by human hands. The foothills were rich in vegetation and rivers ran through the valleys, singing nature’s song. They had found the land their eyes thirsted for, but what were they to do now? How were they going to live in the shadow of a great dragon’s wings?

The Archer cried that they should send the Master to the Dragon to negotiate a deal with the creature for he was the one who had led them to this doom.

The Master stood at the head of the group, trembling in the wind in his warm clothes, voice nothing more than a mouse’s squeak, and spoke at great length about dragons and their might, the need for new land and of putting an end to their travel. He called for a champion to represent him in the negotiations with the beast, but none stepped forward.

Then the Master, ever the resourceful man, spoke of riches that might await them should they continue north. If the land was this fertile under a lonely mountain, surely it was worth a chance to travel north in search of an even more fertile land. The Sun be kind on them, they would never have to search for new land ever again, said the Master.

But the people weren’t swayed. These were men of the Sun. What were they to do when Winter came? What were they to wear during the harshest gales? What were they to do when the ground froze? The Master, of course, never had to think of such things and didn’t think of them then. The Healer was the one who spoke of the folly in the Master’s plan.

Sensing his defeat, the Master dragged his feet up the mountain. He’d never been that hungry in his life, and the fruit in the forests were edible. He stopped a hundred times for a snack or a drink, hiding in thick bushes, heedless of his people who lay cowering at the mountain feet. While the people made plans to hide their children should the Dragon show, the Master made no attempt to find the Dragon.

It was completely by accident that the Master discovered the Dragon when he fell through a hole in the ground and right into the Dragon’s lair. The great Dragon slept under the mountain in a hall so grand you couldn’t see the ceiling, with towering pillars that disappeared into the darkness. The floors were made out of cold granite. Figurines of Kings and Knights of the Old were etched into the thick grey walls.

The Master noticed none of this for all his eye could see was the sea of gold he now lay in. There was gold before him and gold behind him. Gold underneath him and gold all around him. The Master screamed in ecstasy at the sound of gold coins tinkling beneath his feet.

And then the Dragon rose.

Before I tell you if the Master survived, there are some things that you should know about dragons.

Dragons were creatures of the Old that every living being feared. They had eyes that turn skin into a sickly pallor, blood so black that night held an intense radiance that could blind your eyes. They could smell your fear and with their tongues, taste your dread. They had no known weakness and left nothing but ruin in their wake. They killed virgins and slaughtered cattle without a second thought. Whole villages fell to ashes under their might.

It is said the only thing that a dragon cared for was treasure. They had a natural compulsion to hoard and collect priceless gems and lived for the touch of precious metal on their scales. Their craving for gold was like the haunting of a ghost. It was never ending and meaningless but an unbreakable obsession. They held a wisdom like no other, but they were slaves to a toxic greed. Always in slumber unless they went to quench a hunger they could not satisfy, or if one was stupid enough to face them.

To trespass onto a dragon’s treasure hoard was the fastest way to burn one’s self alive.

Imagine the Master’s terror on seeing the reptilian eyes of the Dragon open, on seeing the spread of its enormous wings. The Master soiled his breeches and trembled where he stood. The great beast took a large sniff and shook its head in disgust, sending gold coins – and a diamond, the Master was sure – flying across the hall. With shining gold and various sparkling gems stuck in the grooves of its scales, the Dragon shone and glimmered like a beautiful catastrophe.

Then imagine the Master’s surprise when he didn’t find himself dead and burnt to a crisp within moments.

I cannot tell you what happened next for I am not sure myself. The tale of the Master’s negotiations with the Dragon varied according to the person you ask. Some say he wove a tale of riddles so complex the Dragon’s head spun; some say he sang praises of the Dragon and danced to a merry tune for the beast’s amusement for days before he was forgiven. The Master would simply tell you that he had ‘tamed the beast with diplomatic skill and charming wit’.

The Master returned to his people three and a half weeks after he had left them and many had to touch him to believe he was real and alive. He gathered all his men around for a fire, feasted on the fruit they fetched him, and told his own tale of the Dragon.

“Long ago, in the age of the Old”, he said, “lived a King under the mountain – a Dwarf King. A King so enormously wealthy yellow rivers of gold flowed in his halls. The dwarves under the mountain had mined it and thrived in its tunnels for ages before the Dragon arrived, breathing fire and leaving smoke and ash in its wake. The dwarves either died fighting, bravely and perhaps foolishly, or fled the Lonely Mountain. The Dragon then made the Great Hall his lair, bathing in the gold and rolling around in riches that did not belong to him.”

“The Dwarf King had tried to negotiate with the Dragon”, the Master said, “but the price the beast set was too unfair for the proud King to accept.” Hence began the ruin of his people. The Master wouldn’t let that happen to his people, no. The Master said he had cleverly talked to the beast, in its own Savage Language, until they reached an acceptable agreement – a cattle sacrifice at the turn of every season in return for the continued peace and existence of the people in the Mountain’s generous shadow.

At this, the people cried. “How can the sacrifice of precious cattle and livestock be an acceptable term of agreement,” they asked. The Dragon lived under the mountain and didn’t hold power over the foothills and the valleys – the land the people wanted to live in – they argued.

The Master stood on a wooden log so that all the people could at least see the top of his balding head and spoke in a loud, squeaky voice. “Human sacrifices was what the Dragon wanted”, he said. “Human sacrifices”. The Master’s quick thinking, he continued, was what had saved them from the woe of losing a child to the beast every season. “Cattle sacrifices are a small price to pay in exchange for fertile land”, he said.

“But how will we decide whose cattle to sacrifice?” cried the Teacher. The Master said that he would take upon the grave and heavy burden of impartially choosing a man each season whose cattle would be sacrificed so that the rest of the people could live in bliss under the Mountain’s watchful eye. It was a small price, he said again, and then once more. If anyone was brave enough, or skilled enough to speak the Savage Language, or smart enough to negotiate a better deal, the Master would be happy to lead him or her to the Dragon’s lair, he said.

None came forward.

Twelve bountiful years passed and the Lonely Mountain only gave a better yield with each passing year. Twelve years passed with the people of The Village Between The Hills only ever seeing the shadow of the Dragon’s wings. O, but what a shadow it was. Every time the shadow passed, the Elders believed the dragon swallowed the Sun for a brief while before spitting it out. In those twelve years a new legend formed that said a dragon got its fire from swallowing the Sun; and any beast that hurt their Sun was a monster in the people’s books.

Thus, the Dragon turned into the Monster.

Twelve years and this is where our tale really begins, dear folk. You will forgive me for the delay, I hope, for this was all information that you needed to know before we could truly begin. Now that you know all you need to know about dragons and the past of The Village Between The Hills, you are ready to begin the tale.

*

In The Village Between The Hills lived a lad of 23 years, turned 23 that Summer, who worked in his father’s field until every ounce of fat on him had either turned into muscle or melted into sweat, and then some more. He walked through the village by his lonesome and only ever lifted his gaze up to see the Dragon’s shadow pass by. Dirt caked in the grooves of his kneecaps, bruises decorated his knuckles, and hidden underneath his tunic were even more scars from his father’s girdle.

His name was Jared, and he was nobody of importance.

His father, however, was of great importance that season. Father was one of the men the Master chose to be the one to fulfill that season’s sacrifice. He ordered Father to turn in 4 goats, 6 llamas, and 2 dogs – twice the amount a man had to pay. The Master said it was because Father’s family had two men, Father and Jared.

Jared’s head lowered further when he heard this.

Father couldn’t afford to lose the livestock that season for his land hadn’t yielded well, and he only had 6 goats, 6 llamas and a dog at his disposal. Should he part with his livestock – and some part of his merger yield, too, to compensate for the dog – he knew his family would go hungry that Winter. He brought this up to the Master, begging for mercy and promising to fulfill his duty another season. The generous Master gave him two options – turn in the livestock sacrifices or send his two young children to the Dragon as recompense.

Jared stood outside the door with his ear pressed up against the wood as Father narrated his failed attempts at convincing the Master to his wife. Tears sprang to his hazel eyes when Father said he would rather offer himself up to the Dragon than sacrifice Brother and Little Sister. Jared cursed himself, for had he started a family of his own or moved out of his father’s house, Father wouldn’t have to pay twice of what every other man in the village paid.

“Wife,” he heard his father say, “forgive me for leaving you a widow so young. But I must go to the Dragon in our children’s stead and hope the Monster would like to have a grown man with meat on his bones rather than little children. The only, unthinkable, alternative is to give up our children for giving up our cattle would mean we shall all starve to death this season or the next.”

“I understand, Husband,” Stepmother said after her sobs had subsided. Jared could feel the warmth of tears on his own cheeks. “I understand. Know that I shall always be proud of being your wife.”

“I shall leave before the dawn breaks tomorrow,” Father said between sobs of his own. “I must bid farewell to my children this night and leave before they wake up.”

“I shall cook your favorite dinner, and we shall have a small feast this eve.”

Jared closed his eyes against the sting of his tears and moved away from the door, unable to hear the details of Father’s last meal being discussed. When Father and Stepmother emerged from their bedchamber, neither acknowledged Jared’s presence. That evening Stepmother served dinner to him in the cowshed while the Family ate at the table. Jared crouched underneath a window and watched as Father took Brother and Little Sister into his arms, hugged each to his chest, and retired to bed early.

Jared didn’t enter the house until nightfall, when the Family was asleep. He soundlessly made his way to his trunk and changed into warmer clothes. Pulling out his mother’s locket ring, Jared ran his fingers over the portrait of her, praying for her to watch over him. With one last glance at Brother and Little Sister, Jared left the house.

What good is a son that isn’t loved by his father? What good is a son that would cause his father to sacrifice his own life? Such a son is worthless. It was only fitting that he be the one to sacrifice himself to the Dragon in Brother and Little Sister’s stead. That was why Jared found himself making his way up the Lonely Mountain when the Moon was high in the sky.

Jared didn’t know where the Dragon lived, but he had heard the Master’s tale as a twelve year old when they first came to the Lonely Mountain, and every season since when the Master addressed the entire village. Like everyone else in the village he knew the proper entrance to the Dragon’s lair was somewhere near the edge of the valley, up a sharp cliff.

The soft moss of the forest crunched beneath his feet as he walked. The low hanging leaves of the trees caressed his face, wiping away his warm tears and cold sweat, and the Moon illuminated the path he took on his death march.  The forest smelled like life, as it always did, the scent of the fresh night blossoms mixing with the smell of the wet ground. Jared’s insides twisted sharply at the smell and revolted, threatening to bring back the stew he had for dinner that evening.

Every basic instinct he had told him to take the next step in the direction of the village and towards safety. Then he pictured Father taking the same path, feeling the same terror that he felt with the anticipation of certain death looming over his head, and he kept walking towards the dragon.

The sky was pink by the time Jared found the Dragon. Even before dawn the giant beast with its mighty wings spread out, spanning the entire cliff, had Jared gasping loudly at its beauty. It laid slumbering with its head and a paw atop a rock that was taller than the tallest men, heavy nostrils flaring periodically as warm gushes of wind rushed out of them. With diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and many more precious stones stuck in its copper scales the Dragon’s skin looked like the night and the stars.

Its paws were the size of the boulders. Its eyes, protected by wrinkled eyelids, were the size of a little boy’s head each, and its large body was filled out with muscles that could lift hills with ease. In its chest, it carried a hearth of burning fire that radiated a yellow glow, visible even through the impenetrable scales. The spikes on his backbone were long – at least a foot long on his tail – and sure to lacerate even the sturdiest of flesh to ribbons in one single swipe.

Jared stood before the beast, his jaw as close to the ground as it could get, and just took the sight in. From the shadow that he saw pass over him every day at the fields, it was clear that the Dragon was a majestic one, but only now did he see just how majestic. His fingers itched to touch the copper scales, and to feel the rough hide on the Dragon’s belly. Even the sound of its breath, like the gale of a storm, sent shivers of fear and curiosity down his spine.

“My lord?” Jared whispered. The Dragon’s eyes opened, and Jared found himself looking at his own reflection in a large, snake-like, green eye. He stumbled back, his wide eyes never leaving the Dragon’s as the creature rose to sit on its haunches.

“My lord, forgive me for disturbing your slumber,” Jared said and bowed, hoping the beast could understand the sign of respect.

_‘I am no Lord.’_

Jared jumped at the sound, and he looked around himself for the source of the deep, rich voice.

_‘I speak to you, human. Who are you, and why do you bother me before the crack of the dawn?’_

Jared looked at the Dragon and found intelligent eyes looking back at him, and not the gaze of a mindless savage as he was told he would see.

“I am Jared of The Village Between The Hills,” Jared said, eyes lowered in deference. “My father is one of the men who have been chosen to offer his cattle as a sacrifice in your name this season. But our field hadn’t yielded well this Summer, and we cannot afford to sacrifice our cattle. For this reason I have come to offer myself as a sacrifice, should it please his Lordship.”

The Dragon didn’t speak for a long moment, and Jared kept his eyes to the ground the whole time. _‘I told you, I am no Lord. I am a dragon, and we don’t have a care for Lords. Tell me, Jared from The Village Between The Hills, what does ‘sacrifice’ mean?’_

Jared’s brow furrowed and he rose his eyes to the Dragon’s in a moment of confusion. “It means giving up something you love for the greater good, my Lo- Sir.”

The Dragon’s head tilted as it considered the human standing before him. _‘Yes. Then tell me, Jared from The Village Between The Hills, how is giving up your life a sacrifice?’_

“I do not understand, Sir.”

_‘If you loved your life, you would not be here. How can you sacrifice your life if you do not love it dearly?’_

Jared’s hands shook, sensing that he was about to fail yet again. But he could not fail this time or the price he paid would be Father’s life. “O great and merciful one, show me some kindness. I swear by the Sun to give you anything you would want that I possess as a sacrifice. You need only name it, Sir.”

The Dragon’s head moved closer to Jared, and this time Jared stood his ground. Nostrils flaring, the beast took a sniff and moved back. _‘I can sense you are a virgin. How old are you, little human?’_

“23 years, Sir,” Jared answered, biting his tongue from saying that he was not a _little_ human.

_‘And you haven’t taken a wife or a lover yet. Your virginity must be very sacred to you,’_ the Dragon’s voice echoed in Jared’s head. _‘Who did you swear it to?’_

Jared’s cheeks turned a rosy pallor, and he lowered his head. “To the Sun, Sir. But it is yours if you want it,” his voice shook as he spoke.

The Dragon huffed and Jared felt the warm air over his entire body. He did not know then that the Dragon was laughing at him. _‘You tempt me very much, Jared from The Village Between the Hills. But I do not seek to take your virginity. I do not think it would be… pleasurable for either of us.’_ Heat flared in Jared’s cheeks and chest. _‘You can satisfy me in other ways, however.’_

“I’ll do anything to please you, Sir,” Jared said quickly.

_‘Anything? We shall see. For now, I want you to come see me thrice every week for the rest of the season. Agree to that and I will waive this season’s sacrifice for the whole village,’_ the Dragon said.

Jared looked up at the Dragon. “Sir? I do not understand?”

_‘It’s quite simple, little human. Come see me thrice a week, every week this season in the stead of your village’s sacrifice.’_

The Dragon looked on in amusement as Jared processed what was being requested of him. In the end he said, “If that is what you want, Sir, I will do as you please.”

The flame in the Dragon’s chest burned brighter and his eyes shone more brilliantly than any precious stone that adorned his scales. He looked long and hard at the human before him, at the sweet beauty and the innocence. I can tell you that at that moment, the Dragon didn’t know it had found its most precious treasure, but he did know he had found something that was valuable to him – good companionship. In all his years, and the twelve years since the humans arrived at the Lonely Mountain, the dragon had seen no one like Jared – selfless, honorable and most important of all, someone who did not cower at the sight of him.

_‘It is settled then,’_ the Dragon said, standing on his legs, towering over Jared. At his full height, the Dragon stood so tall that he covered Jared’s entire field of vision. The Lonely Mountain, the forests and the hills, all disappeared and Jared was left with no one but the Dragon in his world. It was not a bad view for him. _‘Now that I will not be getting my usual meal, I must find some myself. Take cover, little human. You do not want to be standing as I take to flight.’_

Jared ran to a large boulder nearby and stood behind it. He heard the Dragon say in his mind, _‘We shall meet again, Jared from The Village Between The Hills,’_ before he spread his wings and with a gust of wind so strong it rocked Jared back on his heels, the Dragon flew away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone. May you all have a peaceful and prosperous 2016. Here's the second chapter. It's short and I hope you'll forgive my one day delay.

“The Monster asked you to be his bitch thrice a week, eh? Is that it?” Father bellowed at him.

“No, sir. All he asked was to see me,” Jared said with his eyes to the ground; he was not one to look Father in the eye, didn’t deem himself worthy of it. Brother was at the Master’s house, where he worked. Stepmother and Little Sister were watching him and Father from the kitchen.

“I thought the Dragon was a savage. It must be a fool. What good is someone like you to a beast like it?” Father shouted. “I never once said a word against your pledge to the Sun. Do you know why, Jared?”

“No, sir.”

Father slammed his fist on the table and Jared jumped at the sound. He heard Little Sister gasp and Stepmother hush her. “It was because I feared for the woman you would take. Now I feel for the Dragon – to be saddled with an abomination like you! You are a worthless piece of cowshit and it must have been you who were dead, not your mother!”

Jared’s eyes turned moist at the mention of his deceased mother. He kept his head low when Father stood and didn’t make a sound when he was slapped across the cheek. He watched his father’s feet retreat and heard the tail end of the whisper “finally made himself useful”. Despite the sting on his cheek, Jared’s lips curled into a half-smile.

You must be wondering what poor Jared had done to incur Father’s wrath. Truth be told, he had done nothing. Jared was a hardworking boy who never talked back to his elders. He helped people whenever he could, and sometimes even when he couldn’t. He was a good man that no one ever complained about and quiet enough that no one ever talked to him or about him.

No, what happened was that Jared’s mother had died during childbirth and Father never stopped loving his first wife enough to start loving his firstborn son. Jared was used to his father’s contempt since childhood and just like his father, he blamed himself for his mother’s death. That was why he never took a wife, why he never ate a morsel more than what it took to quench his hunger, why he worked from dawn until dusk without respite.

Jared knew he was not worthy of living and he tried to be as dead as a living person could be.

The Dragon was right. Jared never valued his own life and would invite death with open arms should He ever greet him. So when the morning came the day after Jared’s first encounter with the Dragon, the boy was already on his way up the Lonely Mountain to the Dragon’s lair.

Jared found the Dragon at the very entrance of his lair, on his back and belly to the Sun. His scales were lighter on the underside, a very faint yellow like that of the Moon on the days close to a full moon. His scales were larger and clearly visible, with many gold coins stuck in their grooves. Jared could clearly see the fire burning in the Dragon’s chest, right above a large, dark, bronze scale. The contrast between the soft looking creamy scales and the old, tough looking bronze scale was stark. The urge to feel the scales beneath his fingertips and see if they were just as contrasting to the touch was too much for Jared to resist.

Taking a deep breath, he moved towards the Dragon, walking a large circle around one of his wings to reach his belly. Jared was struck by how large the Dragon truly was, when he saw that even on its back, he reached Jared’s shoulder height. And Jared was no small man by any means. No matter how much he hunched his shoulders in, Jared always stood at least a head above everyone else.

Jared raised a hand slowly and pulled back after the slightest touch. A Dragon’s body was hot to the touch; and Jared didn’t know, at that moment, that he was one of the very few who knew this. It wasn’t burning hot, just pleasantly warm – like the Sun on your face after a rainy night. Jared pulled his fingers into a fist, trying to resist the temptation, but gave in after a while and put his palm on the Dragon’s belly.

His eyes quickly darted to the Dragon’s head when he stirred. In a moment of insanity, Jared began rubbing the beast’s belly in circles, having seen mothers do that calm to their babes. He continued his ministrations, softly shushing, and the Dragon eventually settled into his slumber again, snoring and puffing loudly.

Jared smiled at the sight.

The large bronze scale was higher up on the torso, though, and Jared stretched carefully in an attempt to reach it. He held onto the Dragon’s belly as he did, so as to not tumble and fall on the Dragon’s wings and hurt him. By the time he noticed that he was holding on too tightly, it was too late.

The Dragon’s large head slowly lifted, its green eyes locked on Jared, smoke fuming out of his nostrils. His wings rose, the talons at the end digging into the ground to support his raise. Jared’s hand, frozen in mid-air, came into contact with the bronze scale as the Dragon rose. He only had a second to comprehend the rough leathery texture of the scale before he was pulling back as if he had been scalded. Jared stumbled back and tripped over a stone, falling on his ass, eyes still locked with the Dragon’s.

The Dragon got his feet underneath him and Jared could see the anger in his eyes and in the way his nostrils flared.

“Sorry,” Jared murmured. “I am very sorry, Sir. I didn’t mean to disturb your slumber, though it seems that’s all I keep doing. I was just curious.”

The Dragon’s head suddenly reared back and Jared was sure it was about to spit fire and burn him alive – a worthy punishment, he thought, and closed his eyes. When the heat and burn didn’t come, he opened one eye into a slit and saw the Dragon looking at him with its head tilted.

He looked amused now and that reflected in his voice when he said, _‘I am not about to kill you, little human.’_

“Thank you, Sir,” Jared said. “Though I am not little,” he murmured under his breath.

The Dragon huffed and his paw kneaded the ground once.

 _‘I didn’t think you would come, Jared from The Village Between The Hills,’_ the Dragon said in Jared’s head.

“I gave you my word, Sir, and I always stand by my word,” Jared said, getting to his feet.

_‘So I see.’_

Jared dropped his eyes to the ground and stood straight under the Dragon’s scrutiny, shifting from one leg to the other. For a long time, neither of them spoke and the silence began to grow uncomfortably long for our poor Jared. So he blurted out, “What were you doing? Belly up?”

_‘It is a warm, sunny day. What do you think I was doing? Taking in the sun.’_

“But isn’t it dangerous, to be belly up?”

The dragon huffed and kneaded its paws again. Jared was beginning to decipher that as a sign of the dragon’s laughter.

_‘I am a dragon. Nothing can ever harm me.’_

“Is it true what they say? That you’ve been on the Lonely Mountain for a thousand years?” Jared asked.

_‘You are a curious one, aren’t you?’_

Jared lowered his eyes at once. “Forgive me, Sir, I did not mean to be impertinent.”

 _‘There is nothing to forgive, little human. I find your questions amusing.’_ The Dragon waited until Jared met his gaze once more before speaking. _‘As for you question, I truly do not know. I have been here for a long time and I lost count after the first 53 years. Time is not something we dragons trouble ourselves with.’_

“Oh. Well, Sir, was there a task you wanted me to do?”

 _‘Why would I need you to do anything for me?’_ the dragon questioned. He lifted one of his large paws and hovered it above Jared’s head. _‘You are very small, human, I am afraid to say. I do not think you can do anything for a dragon like me.’_

“I am not small,” Jared whispered.

The Dragon huffed again. _‘You are, to me.’_

“Then why am I here, Sir?”

_‘To be my friend.’_

“F-f-friend?” Jared stuttered. “But why me?”

The dragon moved his head from this side to that, as if looking for someone. _‘Do you see any humans here?’_

“… N-no, Sir.”

_‘And if there were another dragon here you would surely know of it. Correct?’_

“Y-yes, Sir.”

 _‘There you have your answer.’_ the Dragon said. _‘This is the Lonely Mountain, after all. Days by my lonesome have begun to weigh me down, human. I need a companion and for that I need someone who isn’t afraid of me.’_

The Dragon raised his paw and folded his fingers so that only one claw remained pointing at Jared. He brought the paw closer and closer to Jared until it touched him right in the centre of his chest. Jared felt the heavy weight of the ivory claw on him. _‘You, Jared from The Village Between The Hills’_ the Dragon whispered in his mind and withdrew his claw. The beast looked at Jared expectantly, as if a human even had a choice when it came to obeying a dragon.

“If we are to be friends,” Jared said, “You must simply call me Jared.”

 _‘Jared,’_ the Dragon agreed.

“And what am I to call you?”

The Dragon looked at him for a long time. _‘I do not know,’_ he said, at length. _‘Dragons have no use for names.’_

Jared gaped at the Dragon. “You do not have a name?”

 _‘None that I remember. Why don’t you give me a human name?’_ the Dragon said, tilting his head to the side.

The Sun had risen sufficiently above the ground by then and when the Dragon moved, the full force of the sun beams hit Jared like a thousand needles, causing him to squint. Seeing this, the Dragon moved to cover the Sun and put Jared in his shadow. _‘Is this better?’_ asked the Dragon.

“Much, thank you,” Jared said while blinking quite a few times as his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness. When he looked up at the Dragon, he found the beast’s large head eclipsing the Sun and Jared thought of all the tales the Elders said about the Dragons – about how the Dragon ate and spit the Sun back out every time it flew.

With the Sun forming a halo around its head, the Dragon didn’t look like a monster to Jared, but like an angel that had drops of sunlight in his heart.

“Jensen,” Jared said. “I would name you Jensen. Jen for light and Sen for Sun in the language of the Old. Jensen means sunlight.  Do you like it?”

The Dragon considered his new name for a long moment, looking at the sky and the forests behind Jared. _‘I do like the sound of that name. You can call me Jensen from this day forth.’_

“Jensen.”

_‘Jared.’_

*

Jared had to travel East with Father to sell their crop and for that reason he could not visit Jensen for the next two days. But the agreement was to visit the Dragon thrice a week, so the moment Jared returned to The Village Between The Hills, he made his way to the dragon’s lair. With him he took a special pudding that Stepmother had made. If what the Dragon had said was true and that he had no friends, he would have no one to celebrate the Fall Day with, not unlike Jared.

 _‘A pudding?’_ asked the Dragon when Jared showed him the bowl. _‘What is a pudding?’_

“A pudding is a… a pudding,” Jared said eloquently.

_‘What would I do with it?’_

“You eat it – never mind,” Jared said, cursing his foolishness. Dragons didn’t eat puddings, they ate – well, Jared didn’t quite like thinking about what they ate.

Jensen was still eyeing the pudding curiously. He leaned forward and took a deep sniff of the pudding before reeling back sharply. _‘I think human food would suit me ill, Jared.’_

“I know. It was foolish of me to offer, I’m sorry.”

 _‘There is no need to apologize. I am very touched that you should think to include me in the human ritual of eating together,’_ Jensen said. _‘Dragons always eat alone.’_

“Oh. I didn’t know that,” Jared said, sitting close to Jensen with his legs folded. “Why? It sounds quite… lonely.”

_‘It is. But we do not like sharing what we think is ours.’_

“Humans are like that too. Most of us find it hard to share our belongings with someone, unless they are someone we love.”

_‘And yet here you are, offering a strange creature some… pudding.’_

“Well, it’s the Fall Day. We celebrate our Summer’s harvest and thank the Sun for his mercy on this day,” Jared said. “No one should be alone on Fall Day.”

_‘Shouldn’t you be with your friends on this day, then?’_

“I have no friends,” Jared said.

_‘We are more alike than I first thought, Jared from The Village Between The Hills.’_

Jared laughed. “I guess we are.”

 _‘Did you make the pudding for me?’_ Jensen asked after a while.

“Stepmother made it for the family.”

_‘Not for you?’_

Jared paused, unsure about how to answer. “It doesn’t matter. She was generous to give me some.”

Just then, a cold breeze blew from the North, making Jared shiver and his teeth chatter.

 _‘Come here, little human,’_ Jensen said, lifting one of his great wings. Jared obliged and stepped under the wing, which then wrapped Jared in its warm embrace. The dragon folded himself around Jared. _‘Tell me more about Fall Day,’_ he said.

Settling in and making himself comfortable against the Dragon’s thick hide, Jared began talking. “On the Fall Day families gather together and pray to the Sun at dawn. Then the women make special puddings while the men count their coins and the children play in the open fields. The girls put on their cleanest skirts and dance while the boys fight in the dirt to impress them.”

_‘I hope my questions don’t bring you grief, Jared, but what happened to your mother?’_

Jared hesitated, a retort on his lips and sadness burning through his chest. Then he decided to tell the truth. Jensen was the only one in the world who ever wanted to listen to Jared, and he couldn’t find it in himself to not answer. “She died while giving birth to me.”

Silence fell upon the mountain and in the moments that passed it seemed as if even the birds had stopped chirping and the rivers had stopped running. _‘I do not remember my mother,’_ Jensen said, _‘I hatched when my father was out hunting and my mother was trying to defend me, my brothers and sisters from human hunters. I ran into a crevice in our cave and hid.’_ Jensen’s green eyes looked into mid space, as if he were, once again, looking at the world through the eyes of a frightened hatchling.

_‘The fire in my heart was nothing more than burning embers and I was afraid. I couldn’t save them. By the time the hunters left and I emerged from my hiding spot my brothers and sisters were all crushed and my parents had fled. I like to think that my mother and father didn’t know I was alive, but sometimes I wonder if they deserted me for not protecting my brothers and sisters.’_

The large green eyes of the Dragon closed and his head bowed under the weight of his memories. Jared put his hands on Jensen’s head and softly scratched near his jaw and felt the Dragon’s rumbling throughout his whole body.

“I guess we are alike in more ways than one.”


	3. Chapter 3

As the days grew shorter, Jared’s visits to Jensen grew more frequent. In the beginning visiting Jensen was a duty for Jared. He would arrive at the entrance to Jensen’s lair, covered in dirt and sweat, and Jensen would be waiting for him there, wings tucked around him, like a good pup waiting for its master. On the cold days, Jensen would be waiting for him in the Great Hall with a hearth burning strong. “The Dragon must have been very lonely to await _my_ company,” Jared once told Little Sister, whispering to her as they milked their cows.

Jared himself had inadvertently begun to look forward to the visits. He found himself rushing through his chores on the field and smiling to himself as he made his way up the mountain. Slowly thrice a week became every other day and that became everyday if Jared could help it. It wasn’t as if anyone in the village would miss his presence when he was with Jensen. “You must appreciate how lonely _you_ are to start coveting the company of a fire breathing dragon,” Little Sister whispered back to him.

Jensen wanted Jared to talk about what life at The Village Between The Hills was like. Jared, always an observer instead of a participant, didn’t have much to tell. Then Jensen started asking him about himself – what his favorite fruit or meat was, why he chose to be a farmer, what he liked to do when he wasn’t working, who his favorite humans were, (and a distinctly dragon-like question) if he liked collecting anything. Only when trying to answer those questions did Jared realize how little he knew about himself.

 _‘Sometimes I see humans holding each other very close, with their whole bodies touching,’_ Jensen said one day. He was sitting on his rear legs and holding Jared in one paw. He held that paw close to his chest, with his claws retracted, so as to not hurt Jared. _‘Why do they do that? It seems rather uncomfortable.’_

“It’s how humans greet someone they love,” Jared said. “How do dragons do it?”

 _‘Like this.’_ Jensen brought his head close to Jared’s and touched the tip of his large forehead to Jared’s smaller one. Jared lifted his hand slowly and tentatively touched Jensen’s jaw. Jensen made a deep rumbling sound in his chest – a sound he made when his belly was full and the sun was warming his scales – and nuzzled Jared’s cheek. Jared couldn’t help but laugh at how cat-like Jensen was acting. He dared further and began to scratch below Jensen’s jaw.

One more thing you need to know about dragons is that they like getting their scales scratched very much – cat-like, in Jared’s words. Jensen’s wings shivered in pleasure and he rested his large head on Jared’s shoulder, causing the human to grunt under the weight. He rubbed his jaw on Jared’s shoulder, wordlessly asking for more scratches. Jared laughed at his antics and began scratching lightly around his jaw with both hands.

“You like this too much,” Jared said.

Jensen simply hummed in contentment.

“They never mention this when telling tales about you,” Jared murmured to himself.

_‘What tales do they tell of me?’_

Jared startled on hearing Jensen’s voice, having forgotten that dragons had an unmatched hearing ability.

“They say every time you fly, you eat the Sun and spit it out, and that was how you get your fire.”

Jensen huffed loudly. _‘That is quite absurd, even for an old wives tale.’_

“They say that there was a King Under The Mountain, a Dwarf King, and that you killed him.”

Jensen pulled away from him and looked away. _‘Would you think less of me if I say that it is true?’_

“You must have had your reasons.”

 _‘Jared, the only reason I can give you is that I am a dragon,’_ Jensen said, still not meeting Jared’s gaze. _‘It is in my nature.’_

“Killing?” Jared asked, trying to turn Jensen to face him. “It can’t be. You are the gentlest being I know.”

 _‘I am not always warm touches and belly scratches,’_ Jensen said, finally meeting Jared’s eye. The sparkling green eyes dimmed and they resembled emeralds covered in dirt. Jensen carefully placed Jared on the ground and turned away. _‘I’m a monster, Jared,’_ he said. _‘If you weren’t so reckless with your life, you’d stay away from me.’_

“Jensen, no. Wait!” Jared ran after Jensen as the Dragon retreated into his lair.

_‘Leave now, Jared. I wish to be left alone.’_

“I don’t care what you wish. I am not leaving until you speak to me plainly,” Jared said, standing his ground, back straight and arms folded over his chest.

Jensen turned around sharply, the fire in his eyes matching the fire in his chest. _‘What is there to speak of? There was a King Under The Mountain and I killed him. I killed his people and their children. I burned them alive. Is that what you wanted to hear?’_

Jared shook his head. “I want to know what happened.” He raised a hand towards Jensen, and after a moment’s pause, the dragon lowered his head and let himself be petted. “Did you really kill the dwarves?”

 _‘I did. You have to understand, Jared, that when I say it’s in my nature, I mean it,’_ Jensen’s green eyes lowered with shame as he spoke. _‘I, and every other dragon that lived, have a compulsion to possess and hoard precious treasure and the Dwarves had it. That is all I can say in my defense.’_

Jared continued rubbing at Jensen’s jaw to soothe him and to reassure him that Jensen wasn’t a monster in his eyes. “I do not need to hear more. I don’t know the Dwarves of the Old, Jensen. But I know you and I know that you are good.”

Jensen huffed. _‘Not long ago you were offering yourself up as a sacrifice to me. Everyone in your village thinks that I am a monster that eats the Sun.’_

“Well, I was wrong,” Jared said, firmly. “And so are they. You are not a monster. You let us make a village near your mountain.”

 _‘Are you forgetting the part about the seasonal sacrifices and the promise to turn your village to ash, should you fail,’_ Jensen growled at him.

“You didn’t take a sacrifice this Fall,” Jared whispered, touching Jensen’s neck. “You didn’t ask for much in return, either, and that tells me you don’t need or really want the sacrifices. You take them for another reason. What is it, Jensen?”

Jensen butted his forehead against Jared’s. _‘I don’t want to be a monster,’_ his voice whispered in Jared’s head. _‘I don’t want to be the thing that people fear. But this –this form that I live in strikes fear in people’s hearts and their minds. People do unspeakable things, things that they could not do otherwise, when they are afraid. People who were afraid killed my brothers and sisters and I don’t want that to happen to me.’_

“Then why do you do this? Why do you ask for sacrifices?”

_‘Because they will be afraid of me no matter what. It’s better to control how afraid they will be. If the people think I’ll leave them in peace once they give me a seasonal sacrifice, they won’t mount a hunting party to kill me, liked they did to my parents.’_

“These aren’t the same people, Jensen, they’ll understa-”

 _‘No, they won’t. They never do,’_ Jensen roared, moving away from Jared. _‘And they would be right to do so. I am a monster, Jared.’_

“You are not,” Jared shouted back.

_‘Look at me. Look at me! Tell me you don’t see the face of a monster.’_

“I don’t! I see the face of a Sun-child. I see a creature majestic in appearance and gentle at heart. I see Jensen; not the Dragon, but my dragon. I see you.”

On hearing his words Jensen dropped to the ground and Jared rushed forward to touch him. _‘Oh, you innocent little human. How naïve you are,’_ he said as Jared petted his neck.

“It’s not what you are, but what you do that matters, Jensen. If you choose to not be a monster, you won’t be.”

_‘I wish I could believe you. I really do.’_

*

Autumn leaves fell like a shower of multicolored sparkles and the frost began sticking to the ground as Winter arrived. With the end of Fall came an end to Jared and Jensen’s deal.

 _‘You needn’t visit me regularly, now that the season has changed and the sacrifice has been delivered,’_ Jensen told Jared on one Winter morning.

Perhaps Jared should have been expecting those words from Jensen after the argument they had the other day, but they still caught him off guard. Naively Jared had thought Jensen wouldn’t mind if he continued to visit him even during the Winter, the Spring, and the Summer that followed. If Jared was honest, he would say he wanted to visit Jensen for many, many more seasons to come.

Instead, he said, “As you wish,” and left for the village early that day.

During the days that followed, Jared labored in the fields during the day and recounted all the things he would have told Jensen about that day during the night. In his dreams, he saw large shadows and green eyes, sparkling with amusement, as he heard a deep, rich voice tell him tales of faraway lands.

One day Jared heard a great scream from the mountain that resonated through his very being. In his heart, he knew the scream came from Jensen and his heart begged him to go to his dragon. But the scream wasn’t one of pain or hurt, he reasoned with himself. He would know if it was. He had heard Jensen in pain when an Archer of another village struck him during one of his food raids. It sounded like a mating call or perhaps it was something else entirely. “I must not bother Jensen with the silly notions of friendship that I hold in my heart,” he told himself.

The days dragged on and the words unspoken between Jared and Jensen piled up. The Dragon flew over the village more often in those days, scaring the villagers. One night Jared was sitting in the cowshed, having a conversation with Jensen in his mind, when the dragon flew overhead, blocking the moon’s light for a few short seconds. He heard that screech again, that call of longing, and his heart could ignore it no more. Jared decided he would go see Jensen come morning.

That next morning Jared found Jensen on the edge of the cliff, scratching the back of his neck against a boulder. Like two stones being struck together, the scales screeched as they were rubbed against the rock. On noticing Jared’s arrival Jensen stopped immediately and got to his feet, gracefully strutting across the cliff, with his wings folded close to his body, to sit at the entrance to his lair.

“What were you doing?” asked Jared.

 _‘Nothing you should concern yourself with,’_ came the swift response.

Jared’s head lowered in shame. He started murmuring. “How foolish of me to think that I could come uninvited and ask–”

 _‘I am shedding,’_ Jensen said.

Jared’s head snapped up. “You are what?”

_‘Every Winter a dragon’s scales begin to shed and new ones come.’_

Only then did Jared notice the white patches on Jensen’s copper armor. He could see the wild scratches on Jensen’s belly, neck and every part Jensen’s claws could reach.

“Does it hurt?” They looked quite painful to Jared.

 _‘A little, yes,’_ Jensen said, his voice sullen and his eyes guarded. He then looked Jared straight in the eye. _‘Why did you stop visiting me?’_

“I thought that was what you wanted,” Jared said, moving closer to Jensen. He tentatively raised a hand, and waited for Jensen to come to him. When Jensen nudged his hand with his snout, he gently began scratching the dragon’s neck and chest.

_‘Why would you think that?’_

“You told me that I needn’t visit you regularly. I can tell when I am no longer needed.”

 _‘Is that what you thought?’_ Jensen nuzzled at Jared’s cheek with his nose.

“It’s alright. I’m used to not being wanted.”

_‘You are wanted, Jared. I just didn’t want you to see me like this.’_

“Like what?” Jared asked, pulling back a little to look at his dragon in the eye.

 _‘Like this,’_ Jensen said, spreading his wings to show the large white patches on his sides. _‘You always talk about how beautiful my scales are and look at them now. I am not beautiful when I am shedding.’_

It all made perfect sense to Jared at that moment and when it did he cursed himself for being slower than a llama. “Oh, Jensen,” Jared said, holding his dragon’s head in his hands. “They are just scales. You are still the most beautiful and majestic creature I have ever seen.”

_‘You do not think I am ugly?’_

“I do not.”

Jensen made a deep rumbling sound and nuzzled at Jared’s neck, playfully butting against his chest. _‘I called for you.’_

“I heard. I thought it was a mating call.”

Jensen ducked his head and pulled away from Jared. _‘It wasn’t.’_

“I know now and I am sorry I didn’t come sooner,” Jared said. Then he slowly rubbed at the white patches on Jensen’s belly, careful not to irritate them even more. “Is there anything I can do to ease your shedding?”

_‘I don’t think there is, but it feels better when you are rubbing my belly like that.’_

Jared laughed at that and continued his ministrations, paying special attention to the scratches.

_‘This isn’t permanent, you know? Come Spring I will have shiny new scales all over.’_

“I know. And Spring will be the mating season, I presume?” Jared asked.

Jensen ducked his head. _‘Sometimes I forget how clever you are. And yes, Spring is when we mate.’_

“Will you be mating this season?” Jared asked quietly, still rubbing lightly at Jensen’s wounds.

_‘It’s not that simple Jared. Dragons mate for life. I must find a mate and woo them.’_

“Have you found anyone?”

 _‘I think I have. But I don’t think anything will come of it,’_ Jensen said. Jared could hear the sorrow in his voice and see it in his dragon’s downcast eyes. He had the urge to help, to tell Jensen that any dragon would be lucky to have him as their mate. But for some reason Jensen being mated to someone else, for life, was not something Jared wanted to talk about.

So he simply hummed sympathetically and looked for a distraction. “Does this shed as well?” Jared asked, rubbing over the large bronze scale. With the copper and cream scales shedding to reveal the white patches beneath, the bronze scale stood out even more. Like the first time he had touched it, the scale was rough, wrinkly and leathery to the touch.

Jensen too must have found the talk about mating wearisome, for he was quick to answer Jared’s question. His voice didn’t have the same melancholy as he answered, _‘This one is my Heart Stone. A dragon never sheds his Heart Stone. You are born with it, you die with it,’_ he paused, _‘and you can die without it. Did you know that you can tell a dragon’s age by looking at their Heart Stone?’_

Jared shook his head no.

_‘Well, you can. As you can see I am quite young.’_

Jensen puffed out his chest at the mention of his youth and Jared smiled.

“What is so special about this scale?”

_‘It’s a Heart Stone. It lies directly above a dragon’s heart. Our hide is thick and our scales are our armor, but like every living being, our heart is our most vulnerable part. A Heart Stone protects it.’_

Jared rested his hand in the center of the Heart Stone, which was larger than Jared’s hand, and tried to feel the beating heart beneath. If he concentrated hard enough Jared could feel a slight pulse, but he didn’t know if it was his own heart hammering away or if it was his dragon’s heart beating at a normal pace.

When Jensen made a noise deep in his throat and his wings shivered with impatience, Jared ran his hand up and down Jensen’s chest, feeling the difference in the texture and smoothness. Jensen began to make that rumbling noise of his and his paws began kneading the ground.

“You like this too much,” Jared said with a smile, as it was expected of him.

Jensen responded by pushing his chest further into Jared’s hand and nuzzling at his neck.


	4. Chapter 4

On another Winter morning, when the Sun was gracing the world with his warmth, the Elders sat down at the Village Centre to discuss the sad fate of their crop that season.

“This is surely the Dragon’s curse,” said the Healer and the bunch nodded their agreement.

“But the Dragon agreed to waive this season’s sacrifice at my son’s words,” Father said. You would be mistaken to think that Jared’s father was proud of what he had done. Quite the contrary, Father was sure Jared had angered the Dragon somehow and that he was the cause of their predicament. He simply didn’t want the villagers to blame _him_.

“This is no curse,” said the Teacher, ever the practical thinker. “This is a fungus infestation and we must think of a way to combat it.”

“Yes, yes, if we don’t, the men chosen to pay for this season’s sacrifice would starve,” said Brother who was sitting at the council as the Master’s representative. The Master was too inebriated to attend the meeting.

Just then, the entire world went dark – or so it seemed to the people in the village – as the Dragon’s shadow flew by.

“May the Sun ever watch over us,” some of the Elders muttered, turning their hands up to the Sun in prayer.

“One of these days the dragon will swallow the Sun and never spit it out. What shall we do then?” the oldest Elder asked.

“I shudder to even think of the day,” another answered.

“Jen- the Dragon doesn’t eat the Sun,” Jared said softly. “He just covers it up like the Moon eclipses it sometimes.”

All eyes turned to Jared in surprise, having never heard Jared’s voice at such meetings before.

“How dare you compare a monster to the Moon!” the oldest Elder cried.

“Shut up, boy, you know nothing,” Father said.

“But, I do, father,” Jared tried. “The Dragon is not an enemy of the Sun but its own child. All dragons come from the Sun, they come with drops of Sunlight in their hearts. That is how they breathe fire.”

At that moment, Jared didn’t realize it, but while defending Jensen he had done something he had never done – he spoke to his father without fear.

“Dear boy, where did you hear such blasphemous words?” an Elder asked. “You forget that the Dragon is a monster.”

“But -”

“That will be enough, Jared!” Father bellowed. “You have embarrassed me enough for one day. Go back to the house this instant.”

“But father, I know of a way we can prevent our crops from being infested by fungus,” Jared said, his hands outstretched, palms facing the Sun, in a gesture of begging, tears in his eyes, hoping Father would hear him this once.

Father slapped Jared and the sharp sting made him reel back. “You know nothing, boy,” Father sneered. “You are useless and to trust you would be the biggest mistake one can make. Now go back to the house!”

Jared looked at the Elders, pleading with his eyes, hoping one of them would hear sense in his words. However, they all remained silent, like they always did, as Father abused Jared. “At least there was no punishment by the griddle this time,” Jared thought as he made his way to his home.

Tired and defeated, Jared dragged his legs along as he walked, one foot before the other. Before he knew it, he was climbing up the mountain; heading towards Jensen’s lair. Jared had found himself doing that more often than not those days. Even when he had chores to do and errands to run, Jared never failed to visit Jensen at least once a day.

With Jensen, he was at peace, never worrying about earning Father’s praise or trying to make himself invisible when the family was together. In Jensen, he had a friend that would listen to him – something that was sorely missing in his life. The way Jensen held Jared in his paws, so delicately and carefully, as if he was a treasure to be cherished, made his fragile human heart swell up in joy. When Jensen lay himself vulnerable before Jared and let him touch his Heart Stone, Jared felt pride like never before.

Most days they would lounge on the cliff if the air was warm or in the Great Halls under the Lonely Mountain if there was a chill in the breeze, sharing stories about their individual cultures. Some days they wouldn’t talk at all and merely enjoy the company of the other. Sometimes Jensen would tell Jared of all the wondrous things he had seen in his long life. Then there were days when they would talk about something as simple as Jensen’s favorite meat or debate over which fruit was the juiciest.

For Jared, Jensen was the only one who would ever listen to him and for Jensen, Jared was the only one who would ever talk to him. Like two lone souls finding comfort in each other’s light, all Jared and Jensen needed was the other.

Jensen wasn’t at the lair when Jared arrived, which Jared expected since he didn’t see Jensen fly back to the Lonely Mountain. Jared decided to wait in the Great Hall until his friend arrived since the air was quickly getting cooler on the mountain. Jensen had long ago given Jared permission to enter his lair and trusted Jared with his treasure – which was an enormous thing for a dragon, but Jared didn’t know the significance of the trust placed on him yet.

While waiting for Jensen to arrive Jared decided to explore the Great Hall further. During his exploration Jared found a crypt – of the Dwarves of the Old, Jared assumed – a hall which looked like a place of worship, a large kitchen and the armory. In the armory were all kinds of spare parts and junk along with the finely crafted weapons. Figuring he had more time before Jensen returned from his hunt, Jared set to work.

By the time the Dragon returned, Jared had a present for him – a hand crafter figurine of a skeletal dragon made out of old junk. Jensen carefully took the figurine in his forepaw and examined it, turning it this way and that, ever so gently. Then wordlessly he proceeded deeper into the mountain, to his sleeping chambers where all his treasures were stored, with Jared trailing along quietly behind. Jensen then placed the figurine on a large pile made of gold coins and extremely precious gems.

_‘This piece of art is truly a treasure, Jared. I thank you and humbly accept your present.’_

Jared could only smile and blush at the dragon’s gentlemanliness. “You are very welcome.”

 _‘Why don’t you make more like these?’_ Jensen said. _‘Farming doesn’t suit fingers as delicate and precise as yours. They were meant to shape the ordinary into the extraordinary.’_

Jared lowered his head. “My father never forgave me for my mother’s death,” Jared said. He had never told Jensen of his relationship with his father and had never planned to do so. But the earnestness he could see in the large, green eyes made him open his heart to him. “He was right to do so, I know, but it doesn’t alter the fact that I look for his approval. Father does not believe in craftsmanship. He is a man of the Sun and the Earth.”

Jensen raised one paw and slightly turned Jared’s head to the side. There, on the cheekbone, he saw the bruise that was already beginning to turn purple.

 _‘Did he do this to you?’_ Jensen asked. Jared could read the signs, the flared nostrils, the extending claws.

“He was right to do so, Jensen,” Jared said in haste. “I was speaking out of turn.”

 _‘Hadn’t the man shared your blood, Jared, I would have killed him the moment my eyes fell upon the bruise,’_ Jensen said. His eyes were slits now, like that of an hissing snake. _‘No one has the right to hurt you. Do you understand?’_

Jared didn’t. However, he said yes for the sake of his friend.

_‘Now, do you enjoy the crafts?’_

“All my life I have only been told I ruin things,” Jared whispered. “Sometimes making beautiful things with my own hands reassures me that that is not entirely true.”

 _‘My little human…’_ Jared heard the sympathy in Jensen’s voice.

“I am not little and I do not need anyone’s pity,” Jared seethed.

_‘But, Jared-’_

Jared was already leaving the Great Hall, tears in his eyes, leaving his dragon confused and worried.

*

The next day, when Jared arrived at the lair he saw a thin trail of smoke coming out of some vent, higher up on the mountain. Inside he found Jensen sitting next to a burning hearth with a wide range of tools around him.

“What is this?” Jared asked.

 _‘Yesterday you gave me a gift I will cherish forever. Today I give you a present I believe you would like very much.’_ Jensen said with a childish joy. His wings were twitching, a sign of impatience, in that case, excitement. _‘I have all the tools necessary for blacksmithy and goldsmithy here. I started a furnace for you to work with. You can take as much of my treasure as you want and create art, like I know you want to.’_

Jared’s eyes filled to the brim with tears and he had to bite his lip and force himself to not give into his emotions. “This is a beautiful gift, Jensen, it truly is. But I cannot accept it. I’m not worthy of it.”

_‘I consider you the most valuable and most precious thing in this hall filled with gold and a hundred kinds of precious gems, Jared. You are worthy of anything you could want and more.’_

Jensen bent and touched his head to Jared’s forehead. On instinct Jared closed his eyes and just basked in the warm touch, holding Jensen’s head with both his hands. _‘You are worth it to me.’_

*

“What is it like, up there?” Jared asked Jensen one evening. “Flying above the world?”

 _‘It’s the one thing about being a dragon that I enjoy the most,’_ Jensen said looking to the sky above them. _‘It compares to nothing I’ve ever felt. No amount of gold or treasure can measure up to the joy that fills my heart when I take flight, when I feel the clouds on my face and the wind beneath my wings. I feel like nothing can touch me. When I am up there, there is no sorrow or pain, just peace – quiet, blissful peace.’_

“It sounds beautiful,” Jared said.

 _‘It is.’_ Jensen continued to lie on his back, looking up at the sky with Jared tucked beneath his wing. _‘Would you like to feel it?’_ he asked nonchalantly, like he wasn’t just offering Jared something that no human had ever experienced.

“Me?” screeched Jared, moving out from underneath Jensen’s wing to look at him and see if he wasn’t speaking in jest.

 _‘Yes, you, Jared,’_ Jensen said. His eyes crinkled at the corners, a sign of amusement, Jared had learned. _‘I can take you for a ride on my back, if you want to feel it.’_

“You are serious?” Jared asked.

_‘Very much so.’_

 “I-I would love that.”

The great Dragon rose, spreading his wings wide and getting on his feet. Then he crouched low and tucked his wings in so Jared could climb on his back. Jared did so, mindful of the spikes that decorated his dragon’s spine. _‘Hold on tight, Jared,’_ Jensen told him and Jared obliged, holding onto one of the spikes with his hand and clamped his thighs tightly against Jensen’s torso to keep his balance.

Jared could hear his heartbeat in his ears, and feel every inch of skin that was in contact with Jensen’s tough hide, as Jensen rose to his feet, getting ready to take flight. The cold wind touched his face and caressed his dark locks as he viewed the world from a higher vantage point than he was used to.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Jared shouted. It felt to him that the winds had picked up speed.

_‘You needn’t scream, Jared. And yes, I’m completely sure that this is safe. Do you trust me?’_

“I trusted you with my life long ago,” Jared said, running his hand along Jensen’s long neck, just to feel the rumble in Jensen’s chest travel throughout his whole body.

_‘Then trust me when I promise you that I will keep you safe. I would never let any harm befall you.’_

“I trust you.”

_‘Hold on tight, little human.’_

“I’m not lit- ah!”

Jensen spread his wings and seemed to raise his body off the ground a little before flapping them hard. The powerful winds generated by the movement propelled them forward and, before Jared knew it was happening, they were in the air. Jared never knew he could scream so loud, but he did when Jensen flew high up over the village. He then shut his eyes, held onto Jensen with both his hands and refused to open them.

 _‘You said you trusted me,’_ Jensen whispered.

Jared then opened his eyes slowly, not daring to look down and stretched a hand to pet at Jensen’s neck. When Jensen purred Jared could feel it in his own body, like he was a part of Jensen, like they were one being instead of two. He could feel the muscles in Jensen’s body move as he flapped his wings, he could feel the heat of his fire, could sense it when he was about to turn. And like Jensen had told him, it was like nothing he had ever felt before. He was flying.

The wind rushed to greet him, caressing his face and washing away every single worry that he had. Jared felt the moisture of the clouds on his body, felt the setting sun warm him up. And when he looked down, he couldn’t see The Village Between The Hills or the Lonely Mountain. All he could see was endless green lands on one side and the Great Lake on the other. Even they looked so insignificant from that high above.

“Jensen! This is beautiful!” Jared screamed.

 _‘You’ve seen nothing yet,’_ Jensen said and sharply banked right, diving towards the Great Lake.

“Jensen! What are you doing?”

 _‘Trust me,’_ was all he said.

Jared held onto Jensen tightly, felt him bring his wings closer to his side as he divided. It seemed like the water came rushing up to meet them. Time must have slowed down, for Jared swears he saw every ripple their entry had caused, saw the fish hurry to swim away, saw the green plankton trying to ensnare them. And just as quickly as they divided, they rose again, flying out of the water before it could get its tendrils around them.

Jared screamed loudly again, only this time it was a scream of exhilaration.

“Whoohoohoo!!”

_‘Did you like that? Do you want me to do that again?’_

“Yes!”

Jensen made a sharp turn again and dived into the cold water, rising back again like a phoenix from the flames. Jared was with him, body, mind and soul, laughing all the way.

“Take me far away, Jensen. Take me where Father or the Master or any other man can’t find us.”

_‘As you wish, my little human.’_

They flew far and long, above mountains and over valleys, crossing lakes and forests. They headed west, chasing the Sun as it set. Many villages passed by them and yet the land before their eyes was endless. Jared saw the world, for the first time, through Jensen’s eyes, could hear the wind rushing by him, taste the fresh dew of the clouds, smell the clean air. Everything in the world, every worry he ever had, disappeared; and his field of vision filled with sky the color of a newborn’s feet, and misty, evasive clouds.

When they finally rested atop a cliff Jared got off Jensen, walked to the very edge of the world, and saw a new world beneath him, full of singing birds, flowing rivers and flowering blossom trees.

Jensen came to stand next to him and nuzzled at his cheek.

“The view here is so beautiful,” Jared whispered, his eyes on the setting Sun.

 _‘Yes, it is,’_ Jensen replied.

What Jared didn’t know was that Jensen wasn’t talking about the Sun or the stars that were just showing themselves. He was looking at Jared, bathed in the orange glow of the setting Sun, his face alight with happiness like he had never felt before.

What Jensen didn’t know was that Jared was picturing a cottage, just near the edge of the cliff. He was assessing the land to see what kind of crops he could grow there, making plans about living in their paradise and never leaving. Jared saw himself standing in the middle of a golden field of rice, with his dragon next to him. That thought alone made Jared feel more alive that he had in the 23 years that he lived.

That was the moment when Jared of The Village Between The Hills realized that he was in love with the Dragon that lived on the Lonely Mountain.

But he could never hope to make the Dragon, his dragon – his Jensen – could he? Besides, Winter was almost over. In The Village Between The Hills Spring came early. And Spring was a dragon’s mating season. “Perhaps”, he thought, “this would be the season when I would lose Jensen for real.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your loving comments. Here's a new chapter, this one in Jensen's POV. Hope you guys like it.

They say there are two sides to every story. Before we go any further, you must see the tale from the other lover’s eyes.

Jensen, before he had a name, was born to two great dragons. You might not believe it, but he was the runt of the clutch – or would have been if a band of humans hunting his parents hadn’t so cruelly crushed his brothers and sisters under their goat-skin boots. Jensen never knew of it, but his mother and father had mourned him just as they mourned their other lost children; and prayed everyday till their last, to be reunited with him and his brothers and sisters in the Neverlands.

What he saw as a hatchling, forever struck in his mind, dictated the way Jensen led his life. He feared humans and in return, he scared them. Humans were afraid of what they didn’t understand and they didn’t understand how any creature could hold the power of the Sun in its heart – hence the fear of a dragon.

Dwarves, Elves, Sprites, and Kings of the Old were no different from ordinary humans either. The common notion was that you either killed a dragon or were killed by one – for good reason, too, I should say. Dragons were fierce beasts, driven by their greed for treasure and as untamable as the fires in their chests.

But they weren’t all as bad as the legends made them out to be. They were Sun-children, beasts with a soul, like every other creature that walked the land. Simple men like farmers and peasants needn’t fear a dragon, for they held nothing of worth for the beast. It was the rich lords with gold to lose that made up legends of dragons mercilessly burning many a village to the ground and taking virgins prisoners. Naturally, like a disease would, the hatred of a dragon spread to their people.

Over the centuries, the dragons too developed a hatred for everything that wasn’t a fire-breather. Only every now and then did a dragon like Jensen roam the lands. Having raised himself, Jensen didn’t hear other dragons spew vitriol about the other species and held no special malice in his heart for them, except for a fear that they would come to hunt him.

When Jensen found the Lonely Mountain, drawn to the riches it held deep in its belly, like a babe to its mother’s bosom, he was greeted by iron arrows. You see, when the people of the Old gathered around fires at night to talk about legends, one legend always came up – that the Dragons were children of evil magic, brought to life by warlocks and witches. And iron negated all magic – hence the iron arrows.

Jensen dodged them as he circled the mountain, trying to reason with the Dwarves, to tell them he meant no harm. The arrows stopped when Jensen managed to capture the Dwarf King. He took the King Under The Mountain to the Lonely Mountain’s peak and set his terms: the Dwarves would part with no less than half the gold in the mountain, in return for their continued peaceful existence; and let Jensen live in one of the mountain’s many caves, in return for the Dragon’s protection from any invading army.

The Dwarf King spat in Jensen’s face – well not in his face, for the Dwarf King, largest of all dwarves, was still too short, but the negotiations certainly took a turn for the worse.

What they say about the massacre on the mountain after the Dwarf King’s refusal is true. Some dwarves managed to flee the mountain with as much gold as their hands could carry, but many burned, unwilling to part with the metal they had no use for. Like a dragon, they say that the lust for gold flowed through a dwarf’s veins.

I will not offer any defense on Jensen’s behalf for the monstrosity that occurred that day, but will only say what he had already said: it was in his nature.

When the humans came to the Lonely Mountain, they were poor and penniless. Jensen saw how frail and weak the Master looked – and he was the most well-fed of the lot! He had no need to kill the humans so he let them live in the shadow of his mountain, protected from any outer threat by the presence of a dragon. However, it was humans that had once tried to kill his parents and killed his siblings. He could still see the shattered fragments of his siblings’ eggs and their frail bodies peeking out from beneath.

Something like that could happen again. Fear was useless, that was what his parents did, and trying to reason with humans was pointless. He would get an arrow in the eye before he could even whisper a word in their minds. Jensen had to strike a balance and keep them sufficiently afraid of him – hence the need for the seasonal sacrifices.

What Jensen didn’t know was that there would be a human named Jared, from The Village Between The Hills, who would make him question his own nature.

The day Jensen met Jared was a day that would be etched into his mind, like words carved on a stone. It was the first time someone looked at him as if he was something other than a monster. Jared was afraid, of course. He was afraid of the impending death, thinking of all the gruesome ways a dragon could kill a human. Even if he held little value for his life, Jared couldn’t help his body’s natural reaction to danger, and Jensen scented that fear. But Jared, for some reason, was never afraid of him. Furthermore, he treated Jensen with true respect, unlike that scum of a man, the Master, who sang praises he didn’t mean.

Even the most coldhearted dragon wouldn’t be able to kill someone like Jared who was so pure and innocent. Jensen saw the determination in his eyes and the courage in his stance, willing to sacrifice himself with little regard to his own life. When Jared even offered up his innocence, Jensen didn’t know if he should have laughed or felt sorry for the naïve boy. Jared was something rare, something valuable, and something to be treasured, perhaps – a human that wasn’t afraid of dragons.

Jensen didn’t really expect Jared to come to him the very next day but Jared did. The moment he woke up from his slumber Jensen was sure that Jared was about to damage his Heart Stone in some way. His rage flared up and his fires heated up, ready to burn the human that threatened him. But to Jensen’s immense surprise, Jared had simply wanted to touch, the curious little creature.

That day he got a name. Jensen had been called by many names before that: fire-breather, beast, monster, large bat and many, many more sneered at him like he was an abomination. But that day he was called ‘Jensen’, named after the Sun. It took a while for Jensen to get used to it, but he learned to call himself Jensen. Each time Jared called him ‘Jensen’, each time Jared smiled at him, he felt more sure that he could be worthy of that name and of his friend.

Jared called him a Sun-child, said that he had droplets of sunlight in his heart and that was why he could breathe fire. Jared worshipped the Sun, even pledging his virginity to the God of Light. To be compared to a God’s child was something Jensen couldn’t fathom after a lifetime of being called a monster.

As their friendship blossomed like the wild roses that grew on the mountainside, Jensen began falling in love with his companion. He wanted to hold Jared close to his heart like the humans did to the people they loved, but he couldn’t. Being a monster meant one wrong move on his part would mean death for his beloved. That was why he treated Jared, his most precious treasure, as if he was made out of sand-glass.

To be so close to his beloved, to see him every day, to feel his gentle touch on his own beastly skin, and to not be with him as a mate was the cruelest torture Jensen had ever known. Before Jared came into his life, Jensen had no Gods – he had no use for them. But after falling in love with Jared, Jensen prayed every night after Jared left his lair. He prayed for a chance to be with the one he loved, he prayed for a life in which he wasn’t monster, for a life in which he could hold his beloved without fear of hurting him.

Jared’s trust in him outweighed his trust in himself. But the evening Jared flew with Jensen, he decided to not let that stop him from being with Jared. As Jared let his hands fly free, enjoying the wind on his face, without a care in the world, Jensen realized just how much Jared trusted him. He realized, if someone as good and pure as Jared could trust Jensen to not be a monster, there must be something in him that was worthy of that trust.

That was why he found himself at the entrance to a wizard’s cave on the first day of Spring.

“I know what it is you seek,” the Wizard said, before Jensen could say anything. “And I can give it to you. But it will cost you dearly.”

 _‘I am willing to sacrifice anything for a chance to be with my love,’_ Jensen told him.

“Never make a promise to a wizard before you hear all the terms of the arrangement,” the Wizard said, leaning heavily on his staff and craning his neck to look at the dragon. “What you are asking for is extremely powerful magic. It comes at an extremely large price.”

Jensen braced himself and puffed out his chest. _‘Name the price you want. I will secure all the world’s gold and precious stones if that is what you want. I will bring you the manna from heavens or the hounds from hells. I will do anything it takes.’_

“Ah, but I can acquire those on my own. There is something else you have, that is of great value to me – something that will be very painful for you to part with.”

 _‘Name it and it’s yours,’_ Jensen told him.

“I want all the treasure there is in your cave at this very moment-”

_‘Like I said, you can have it all.’_

“Patience, my dear friend,” the Wizard said, shaking like a leaf as he struggled to remain standing. “I want all the treasure there is in your cave at this very moment… and your Heart Stone,” the Wizard finished with a smile.

Jensen froze. The treasure he had hoarded over the centuries was easy to part with, but his Heart Stone was not like any other scale on his body. Removing it would be just as painful as pulling his heart out. But for Jared, it was a small price to pay. _‘You can have it.’_

The Wizard laughed. “Ah, young love! It has gained me many a valuable item in the past, and now it is giving me something that I never thought I’d have in all my 819 years.”

_‘So will you do it? Turn me into a human?’_

“No, no, dear friend. I cannot turn you into a human. Even the Grand Maester of Wizards and Warlocks can’t do that. What I can do is give you a human form that you can shift into, whenever you chose to do so. It is very much like putting a lion in a sheep’s clothing,” the Wizard said, going back into his cave.

Jensen followed him, ducking very low at the entrance and folding his wings close to his body to avoid injuries. Though not as large and spacious as the Great Hall of the Lonely Mountain, the cave was big enough for Jensen to sit in it and still left room for the Wizard and his four apprentices to move around.

“You will still need to feed on meat like any dragon and fly out every now and then or your shoulders would cramp like your wings would if you keep them folded for too long,” the Wizard continued as he looked for all the potions and ingredients he needed for the spell. “I must warn you, however, that this spell does have its risks. Firstly, it could kill you if I put even one grain of an ingredient more than what is necessary. Secondly, should the spell be successful it will in turn reduce your lifespan to that of a human.”

_‘I wouldn’t be able to live without Jared anyway. It is a risk I am willing to take. How old will my human form be?’_

“Your human form would be as old as your dragon years would be when compared to a human’s lifespan and you will age like any human would.”

_‘That suits me well.’_

“Very well then,” the Wizard said, rubbing a few leaves into a mixture and putting it into a bowl. “Let us begin by removing your Heart Stone.”

 _‘No!’_ Jensen growled. _‘Do you take me for a fool, old man? I will not give you my Heart Stone until the spell is complete and successful.’_

“Finally you show some tact in dealing with a Wizard!” the Wizard said with a smile in his voice. But when he turned around his face was grave, shadows dancing on it, and his back was straight. His apprentices shivered and retreated to a corner, cowering as they watched their master. He looked the Dragon straight in the eye.

“But it is too late. You promised your Heart Stone to me in return for a spell, not a successful transformation. This is why you must negotiate the terms to the tiniest detail before making a promise to a Wizard. You will give me your Heart Stone and pray to your Gods, if any, that the spell should be successful. If it is, you will then pay me the gold that you have stored in your lair. Are we clear on the terms, Dragon?”

It was a risk, one that could cost him his life, but one Jensen had to – no, wanted to take. _‘Yes.’_

I will spare you the dreadful details of what happened next, but they say that the Dragon’s screams brought upon an earthquake, powerful enough to turn mountains to dust.


	6. Chapter 6

The day after the Earth shook, the village was in an uproar. The large boulders from the Lonely Mountain had come tumbling down, flattening many a tree and splitting into a thousand rocks as they fell. The Great Lake had risen and overflowed before retreating. Cracks appeared in the caked brown mud in the dried fields.

The Master blamed it all on the Dragon. Said the beast had cursed the village and its people when Master refused to send even more cattle as a sacrifice. The Master stood in the village center and said that the Dragon had asked for twenty goats, twenty llamas and ten dogs, a burden shared by five men as was the custom, as a sacrifice that season and every season forth and that failure to do so would result in more curses befalling them.

The Master’s words did not fool Jared, however. From his time with Jensen, Jared had learned to not believe in such superstitions and old wives tales. He knew that, unlike what his father and the elders said, Jensen never swallowed the Sun and wasn’t even capable of such a thing. And he surely could not be capable of shaking the Earth so hard. Besides, Jensen was a sun-child, not a witch that cursed people. Jared had faith in that much.

The fear that gripped his heart came from his worry for Jensen. The only reason Jared hadn’t rushed up the mountain, the moment the Earth stopped shaking, was that he knew Jensen wasn’t in his lair. He had told Jared he would be flying far South and wouldn’t be returning for two days and two nights. Two days had passed without Jared seeing Jensen and every moment of those two days Jared never took his eyes off the ground, waiting for a large shadow to pass by. At nights, he looked to the sky to see the Dragon eclipse the Spring moonlight. On the second night the Earth shook and Jensen hadn’t come home to Jared yet.

After he had calmed Little Sister and promised her over and over again that the Earth wouldn’t shake again, Jared made his way up the Lonely Mountain. On his way out of the village, he saw the Archer’s wife crying and the neighboring women trying to give her strength. The Archer had been one of the men chosen by the Master to sacrifice his cattle that season and the Archer, like Father, had a grown son who hadn’t taken a wife yet. That meant the Archer had to sacrifice twice as much as cattle as everyone else did. Jared felt for the poor Archer’s boy who must be blaming himself. He decided to ask Jensen to waive this season’s sacrifice, as he did for Fall.

As Jared slowly trekked to Jensen’s lair, he contemplated the Earth shaking. As silly as it might sound to us, Jared was legitimately worrying if he were the reason the Earth shook. He wondered if his was a love so forbidden, the Gods had taken it upon themselves to let him know. He then thought of how stupid that notion was. Why would a God, any God, pay any heed to someone like Jared and what he thought? But, then again, Jensen was a Sun-child. Perhaps the Sun didn’t want his child consorting with someone as lowly as Jared.

As he thought those self-depreciating thoughts, Jared could almost hear Jensen’s voice echo in his head, _‘You are worthy, Jared from The Village Between The Hills. You are worth it to me.’_ He could almost feel the phantom press of Jensen’s forehead to his own – almost. Jared ached to feel Jensen and his warmth against him for real. His stride quickened and before long, Jared was at Jensen’s lair.

Left alone on the mountain with nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company, Jared let his mind run amok. He waited and waited and Jensen never came. Before the Sun could set in the West, Jared had convinced himself that Jensen must have had an inkling of Jared’s affections towards him and that it scared him away from the Lonely Mountain, never to return. It was a stupid thought, you and I know, but to Jared it seemed completely plausible in that moment. Wiping his tearstains and folding his arms around himself to keep warm, Jared exited the Great Hall.

That was when he saw Jensen. At first, it was just a dot, coming in from the South. Then slowly the tiny creature morphed into a fearsome dragon. Only, the dragon wasn’t fearsome. Even from afar, Jared could see the exhaustion in Jensen’s muscles as he tried to maintain his altitude. His wings flapped harder than they normally did, trying to keep him afloat, and more than once Jensen went under.

All other thoughts, but the worry for his friend, disappeared from Jared’s mind. He took shelter behind one of the large rocks that was undisturbed by the Earth’s shaking as Jensen landed on the cliff. Even then, his wings didn’t produce the powerful gusts of winds like those that they usually did. It was more of a strong breeze and nothing more.

As soon as Jensen had his feet underneath him, Jared ran towards him. “Jensen! Jensen, what has happened to you?”

Jensen saw him coming and lowered his head so that Jared could pet him. Jared smoothed at the scales around his neck and rubbed under Jensen’s chin. When that didn’t make Jensen purr, Jared only grew more anxious. “You are weak,” Jared said. “What happened?”

 _‘I am fine,’_ Jensen said, _‘do not worry, little human.’_

“I am not little,” Jared said, out of habit. “You must rest.”

_‘No. There is something I must show you first.’_

Jensen pulled away from him and that was when Jared noticed it for the first time. He saw the large pinkish spot where Jensen’s Heart Stone used to be. Before Jared could asked what had happened, an extraordinary thing occurred. Where a dragon once stood, there was a naked man with green eyes and freckles, smiling.

“Jensen?” Jared breathed.

The man nodded.

Jared ran to him, uncaring of his nudity, holding onto his biceps, for Jensen looked like he was about to keel over. “What did you do?” Jared cried. He saw the angry red scar on Jensen’s chest. “What did you do to yourself?”

“I did it for you,” Jensen said. Hearing Jensen’s voice for real, when all these days he only heard it in his head, sent shivers down Jared’s spine. “I did it to be with you.”

“With me? What do you mean?”

“Remember when I told you that Spring was a dragon’s mating season?” Jensen asked. Jared nodded his head yes. “When a dragon chooses their mate, we try to woo them by making a dangerous kill or something otherwise risky to prove our love. For you, my love, I parted with my Heart Stone and all the treasures I have collected over the centuries – for a chance to be with you.”

“Jensen…” Jared whispered, lost for words.

Jensen took a knee, smiling wide even as every part of his new body radiated pain and discomfort, and gingerly took Jared’s hand in his own. “Jared from The Village Between The Hills, will you do me the honor of being my mate?”

Only moments ago, Jared was thinking how unworthy he is of Jensen’s companionship and how his own affections for Jensen were forbidden. But there Jensen was, on his knees, having given up his Heart Stone for a human form, and all for Jared. What else could Jared have said, but “Yes! Yes, Jensen, it would be an honor to be your mate.”

Looking at Jensen through eyes filled with tears, Jared noticed the subtle ways Jensen’s dragon form translated into his human form. Jensen smiled wide and beautiful as he rose to his feet, his eyes crinkling at the corners, like they did in his dragon form whenever he found Jared amusing. His skin felt slightly leathery to the touch as he wiped away one of Jared’s stray tears that ran down his cheek. And when Jared put his hand on Jensen’s chest he could feel the heat of the fire burning underneath.

Jensen’s lips, however, were soft and warm to the touch as he slanted them over Jared’s, light as the morning dew on a grass blade, sealing their mateship with a kiss, with the setting Sun, the rising Moon, and the first Stars as their witnesses.

That night, under the Northern Stars and over the spring grass they made love. It was terrifyingly beautiful. They forgot who started it and who followed, falling under the curse that befalls all young lovers, fiery passion mixed with earthy devotion, until all that remained were flushed cheeks and blown pupils. Wisps of whispers of love fell from their lips as their hearts beat to the same rhythm. The slightest touch of fingertips, the sensation of being together as one, overwhelming their senses as they wrote their names across each other’s hearts.

Jensen thrust deep into Jared, seeing himself reflect in the black, glassy pools of Jared’s eyes. He couldn’t stop touching Jared, couldn’t stop trying to reaffirm to himself that he _could_ touch Jared, kiss Jared, drag his fingers over the soft bow lips. Couldn’t fathom how he could get even closer to Jared when they were flush against each other, as close as two beings could be. But even as they moved as one, he wanted to go even closer, wanted to hold his precious treasure in his arms and never let go, live inside him and be a part of him.

Jared glided his fingertips over Jensen’s shoulder blades, the bony joints where his wings condensed to, and felt Jensen’s shivers across his own body. The delicious friction inside him drove him to the edge of ecstasy and back. As he lay, staring at the millions of stars shining down on them, Jensen bit bruises into Jared’s neck. He felt the blood rushing up to the skin to meet Jensen’s harsh kisses and felt his body arch into Jensen’s soft touches.

The Spring moonlight danced across his dragon’s face, kissing his freckles. The forest green eyes of his angel from the Sun, that he would recognize anywhere, looked upon him with immeasurable fondness and adoration as they both found the ultimate heaven in each other’s arms. They both lay there panting, holding onto each other, tasting the other on their own lips, warmed by the hearth that burned in Jensen’s chest, until the Sun rose to greet them again.

*

The first rays of the Sun fell on Jensen and Jared traced his face, his slightly crooked nose, his angular jaw, with the lightest touches of his fingertips. He was afraid of his rough fingers, with dirt caked beneath their nails and bruised from hard labor on the field, sullying Jensen’s beauty.

“I am not worthy of your love,” Jared whispered.

Jensen took Jared’s hand and placed it on his cheek, kissing his lover’s palm. “Don’t ever say that,” Jensen said, dancing his fingers on Jared’s knuckles. “You are worthy, Jared. You are worth it to me.”

Jared smiled wide, remembering thinking of Jensen saying the same words; and Jensen touched a finger to his dimple, tracing around the groove until it began tickling Jared.

“What are you smiling about?” he asked, cupping Jared’s face.

“I have a lot to smile about today,” Jared replied. He ran a hand down Jensen’s sternum and lightly touched the scar on his chest.

“Does it hurt?”

“Not when you touch it.” Jensen placed Jared’s hand more firmly on his chest. “What do you feel?”

Jared felt the burning heat underneath the skin. “I can feel your fire,” he said. Then felt the heart, beating away at a pace faster than any human heart. “I can feel your heartbeat.”

“It’s beating for you.”

Jared blushed. “I‘ve already agreed to be your mate. You don’t have to woo me anymore.”

“I know, but I wanted to say it,” Jensen said. “Losing my Heart Stone in return for having you touch me like this, feel my beating heart like this, is not a sacrifice at all. I want you to know that.”

Hearing those words fall from Jensen’s lips Jared could almost believe them. “What do we do next?” he asked while tracing out patterns in the freckles on Jensen’s chest. He had no care for what would happen next, as long as he had his mate by his side.

“We could go to your village. I could be the new stranger and the dragon would have suddenly left the mountain,” Jensen said. Then as if remembering something, his brows furrowed. “Do the people in your village accept a relationship between two men?”

Jared nodded. “But it’s complicated. A man can have another man for a lover, but it is expected of him to take a wife and produce children.”

Jensen’s grip over Jared tightened and he pulled Jared closer to him. Jared chuckled. “Jealous, my dragon?”

“I don’t like the thought of you being with someone else.”

“Me neither,” Jared admitted. “Remember the place you took me flying, far West from here? When we were there, all I could think about was building a home with you there and living the rest of my days away from everyone but you.”

“Are you sure, my love?”

“I have never been more sure of anything in my life. With you, I feel alive, Jensen. All these years without you, I’ve been a mere ghost in my own life. I started living when I met you.”

“It is settled then. I will take you to the edge of the world and we’ll build a life there,” Jensen said, intertwining their finger and sealing his promise with a kiss to Jared’s knuckles.

“Jensen, can I ask you for something?” Jared asked, biting his lip and looking at Jensen from underneath his lashes.

Jensen slowly pulled Jared’s lower lips free and ran his thumb over it, feeling its softness and wondering if he could kiss Jared until he could taste his own name on his teeth. “Anything, my love.”

Jared blushed a deeper shade of red on hearing the pet name. He knew he would never get used to hearing the endearment from Jensen.

“I was wondering…” Jared started and then paused, not sure, if he should ask the question. He looked away, and saw how their bodies were flush against each other, their legs intertwined. Jensen had his arms around him and was smiling at him. It truly struck him then, that he was Jensen’s mate now. There was no reason for Jared to hesitate when asking something of Jensen. “I was wondering if you could waive this season’s sacrifice, since we plan on leaving anyway.”

“Sacrifice? That hasn’t been on my mind at all,” Jensen answered. “If it pleases you, I don’t intend to take any sacrifices from your village, Jared.”

“That would make me very happy. With the increase in the number of livestock as sacrifice, the Archer’s family wouldn’t-”

Jensen propped himself up on one arm and looked down at Jared, brushing away a stray lock from his face. “What do you mean by ‘increase in the number of livestock as sacrifice’?”

Jared’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Well, you asked for four goats, four llamas and two dogs from each man this season, so -”

“No, wait. All these twelve years, all I asked for was one goat and two llamas each from four men,” Jensen said. “Never a dog. Besides, what would I do with a dog? They look dear and taste awful.”

“But the Master said – Jensen all these years the Master had been taking two goats, three llamas and a dog each from five men, saying it was what you demanded,” Jared said urgently. “And just yesterday he said the Earth shook because you the cursed the village when the Master refused to increase the number of livestock given to you.”

“That is quite silly. As a dragon, I can do many things but shaking the ground isn’t one of them,” Jensen said. “And I haven’t negotiated any new terms with the Master.”

Jared got to his feet immediately and started looking for his clothes. He spoke as he got dressed. “I understand it all now. The Master had been taking the extra livestock in your name and selling them in other villages. Every season a closed cart leaves the village and comes back after a week. Now I know what it was for.”

Jensen too got to his feet. “What are you saying?”

“The Master has made fools of us all for the past twelve years,” Jared said. “And he’s turned you into a monster in the villagers’ eyes. He has been accusing you of placing curses on us for the past few years, antagonizing the villagers against you. He has been planting seeds of fear and hatred, and has recently started to hint at mounting a hunting party to kill you.”

Jensen gasped, the memories of the crushed shells of his brothers and sisters coming to mind.

“Don’t worry, my dragon,” Jared said, placing a hand on Jensen’s cheek. “I will go to the village now and expose the Master’s cunning to the people. They will understand.”

Jensen caught Jared’s arm as he turned away and pulled him close. “There is no need for that, Jared. Let us leave now. We can leave the Master, your father, the village, all of this behind and start anew.”

“We will,” Jared promised. “But I have to let the villagers know of the Master’s deceit. I will be back very soon.”

With those words, Jared left Jensen and headed for the village.


	7. Chapter 7

Unknown to Jared and Jensen, the Wizard and his four apprentices had arrived at the village the night before and took shelter at the Inn. The Wizard had wanted to give Jensen a few day’s respite before collecting his due. With them, they brought ten large carts to carry away Jensen’s wealth in. The Wizard believed the ten carts wouldn’t be enough and that they might have to make another trip to collect all the treasures, but they were all they had to spare. He was right, of course, as wizards always are. But I shall spare you the tedious details and mathematics of the Wizard and his apprentices’ toils as they carted away Jensen’s gold.

What you ought to know was that the Fourth Apprentice got very drunk – drunk enough to ramble on about how he, and his master, had taken the Dragon’s Heart Stone. He managed to spill all the information he knew about killing dragons to the Archer, not unlike the way he spilled his rum as he swayed to a merry tune. He also mentioned, quite helpfully, that they were in The Village Between The Hills to take away all of the Dragon’s wealth. The Archer then wasted no time in rushing to the Master and imparting his newfound knowledge.

The Master, who couldn’t sleep a wink at night without counting all his gold coins, gave a gold coin to the Archer, for he was sure he would be acquiring many more very soon. Even before the first rays of the Sun touched the Earth, the Master had everyone in the village assembled at the village center. He stood on a log of tree as he spoke. He talked of the Dragon’s increasing demands when it came to sacrifices, talked of the sad state of poor people, like the Archer or Father, who were forced to choose between potential starvation and the death of their children.

The village echoed his cries of protest. “Killing a dragon is no easy task. In fact, it would be quite impossible under normal circumstances”, the Master explained, “but the Gods have shown us a solution.” The Master talked about the Dragon’s weak spot, the pink flesh where a tough leathery scale once was, a direct window to the beast’s heart.

He said the Archer would be their champion, for he was the clever one who had gathered the information, and that he would shoot an iron edged arrow, straight into the Monster’s heart. On hearing this, the village erupted in cheers of joy and encouragement. The Archer, blushing something fierce, stood next to the Master and swore to kill the Dragon or die trying.

While the village cheered the Archer, the Master rubbed his greedy hands together. If everything went as planned, within the next day, he could become the wealthiest man alive. He planned to take away all the wealth the Dragon had amassed as soon as the villagers killed it. “How dare the Dragon promise the wealth that I wanted to someone else”, he thought. “I will make the Dragon pay dearly for that”, the Master vowed to himself. “After all, I have been waiting for this day for twelve years.”

Poor Jared, unknowing of the trouble that awaited his mate, returned to his home at dawn. He found his father getting ready to leave for the hunt.

“The whole village is rallying to kill the Dragon,” Jared’s father said on seeing him. “You should come too.”

Jared’s heart lurched painfully in his chest and he felt dizzy for a moment, feeling like the ground had been pulled from underneath his feet. “The-the Dragon? But why?”

“Why? Why?” Father bellowed. “That monster has been tormenting us for years and now it wants us to give up more livestock. It needs to be killed.”

“He, Father,” Jared shouted back. “He has a name. It’s Jensen, not the Monster.”

“You are a fool. Savages like that beast don’t have names. Your time with the beast has made you slower in the head than you already are.”

“Think what you may of me, Father, but I beg of you to hear me. Jensen is not the monster here.”

Father slapped Jared across the cheek. “You will stop referring to that monster by a name.”

“Father, please. You must listen to me. The Master has been playing us all for fools,” Jared said. He held his father’s arms in his own and begged. “The Master has fabricated all these lies about Jensen wanting more sacrifices whilst he sold our cattle to other villages for gold. Jensen never asked for more than a goat and two llamas from four men. It was all a lie.”

“Father says the Dragon cursed us and that was why the Earth shook,” Little Sister said meekly from behind Stepmother’s skirts.

“No, dear, a dragon does not possess such power.”

“A dragon is a product of witchcraft and black magic,” Father said. “Of course, he is capable of cursing us.”

“No, he is not,” Jared insisted. “He is a Sun-child.”

Father gasped. “You have done it again. Not only do you insist on calling a Monster that has been tormenting our village for years by a name, and speaks lies about our Master, who has risked his life many a time while negotiating with the Dragon for us, you also blaspheme by calling that abomination a Sun-child.”

“Being a dragon doesn’t make you a monster, Father. Men can be monsters too. I have been living with one for all my life.”

Jared heard Stepmother gasp. Fury burned in Father’s eyes and it made his face red. “How dare you!” Father rose a hand to hit Jared again, but this time Jared stopped him.

“You will never hit me again!” Jared said calmly but surely.

Father snatched his hand away. “You have grown arrogant and dumb,” Jared could see the hatred plain in Father’s eyes. He had never seen it before – most likely, because he had never dared to look Father in the eye before then. “However, I do not have time to deal with you. The hunting party has left already and I need to catch up to them. I will put you in your place as soon as I return.”

“The hunting part has left?” Jared whispered in horror.

Father smiled cruelly. “Yes, they did, as soon as the first rays of Sun hit the ground. Should the Gods be good, your pet dragon would already be in iron shackles on the mountain slopes.”

“No!” Jared screamed. He heard Father’s laughter following him as he ran towards the mountain. His calves burned with exhaustion by the time Jared reached Jensen’s lair, but he was nowhere to be found. He screamed Jensen’s name in the Great Hall and only heard his own voice echo back to him.

Hoping Jensen might have gone hunting Jared ran out of the Great Hall and screamed Jensen’s name but no reply came. The soft grass on which they had made love, not hours ago, was still covered in dew and Jared fell to his knees on it. He looked towards East and saw the rising Sun. Jared closed his eyes in prayer and begged for a sign, anything that Jensen was alive.

Then he heard it, the mighty roar of a dragon, coming from the Northern face of the Lonely Mountain. Jumping to his feet, Jared ran towards the sound. Every screech and roar of frustration and suffering that came from Jensen tore through Jared’s heart and he ran faster each time he heard Jensen’s call. His muscles rebelled against him, and his body threatened to collapse in exhaustion. The low hanging branches with their newly budding leaves cut at Jared’s face and body. And yet he ran.

Jared ran until he found Jensen, caught in an enormous iron net that crippled his wings. He could see that Jensen was trying to not be violent. He could have breathed fire at his captors, but he had not and only struggled to get free. Jared couldn’t hear Jensen in his mind. And neither could Jensen turn into a human and talk with his captors, for iron negated all magic.

Weighed down by the iron Jensen couldn’t lift his head up properly and his talons couldn’t find purchase in the slippery moss of the forest. Jensen struggled and shook his head this side to that, trying to shake off his bindings and screeching in frustration after every failed attempt. Twenty frightened men were holding down the net that held Jensen, while others poked through the net and hit him with their pitchforks.

That was when Jared saw the Archer, readying his bow and holding it, aiming straight for Jensen’s heart.

Time came to a standstill as Jared ran towards Jensen. It was the longest and shortest run of his life. He could hear the people shouting, Jensen roaring and the Master laughing. He saw the very moment the arrow left the Archer’s bow, saw it fly through the air, rushing towards Jensen. Everything in the world faded to black as his sight narrowed down to the iron tip of the arrow, which after a few short strides was hurtling towards him.

Jared felt the exact moment the tip of the arrow pierced his chest and hit his heart. It was a pain like no other. It was a pain that felt like death. Jared was aware of his heart trying to beat around the arrow, in vain, trying to beat for his mate, so that Jared could have one last glance of him. But the world faded to black too soon and all Jared could hear was the anguished roar of a _Monster_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter and a cliffhanger! Sorry! But we're almost there. Just one more chapter to go.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, guys! Thank you for going with me on this journey and for all your comments and love. Hope you had as much fun reading this story as I had writing it.

Most of us go through our lives, quite happy and comfortable, even though we do not realize it. But for some unfortunate few, there is a day – a day that they think will be a good day, a day that they think they will be happy and that the Sun will shine down blessings upon them, a day that they think will keep them warm and safe. Then that day fate would play its cruel hand and their life would change forever.

For Jensen, and for Jared, it was that day.

One moment Jensen was quite contently snacking on a goat, smiling to himself at the thought of leaving the human town behind and spending the rest of his days with his love in a land that resembled paradise. The next he was ensnared in iron nets, unable to move, unable to fly, unable to turn into a human, unable to talk telepathically – unable to do anything, but struggle in vain as the humans poked him this way and that. It was a challenge to not breathe fire and burn every human in his sight. It was only Jared’s voice in his head, telling him that he can choose to not be a monster, which stopped him.

Then before he could comprehend what was happening an archer was pointing an arrow at him, straight at the pink patch of flesh left behind after his Heart Stone was removed. Trapped and with no other way of escape left, Jensen reared back to breathe fire and burn his captors to a crisp, but then he saw Jared before him. His brave, beautiful and stupid human standing between him and the danger, shielding Jensen with his own body.

The humans believed that Jensen could make the Earth shake with his power. He could not. But after Jared fell, right before his eyes; after he helplessly watched the red bloom like a rose on Jared’s chest and his hazel eyes close forever, Jensen’s roar did shake the ground they stood on. The dragon breathed fire, burning the men that held the iron net over him and broke free.

The Master was the first to run, then the Archer and then every other villager in the hunting party that remained un-burnt fled.

Jensen turned into his human form, kneeled by Jared’s side and carefully pulled out the arrow that took his love away from him. The blood poured forth and stained Jensen’s hands. He had his mate’s blood on his hands and it embedded itself into every groove and corner of his palm, like the dirt did to Jared’s hands after a hard day of labor in the field. Jared had always worried about sullying Jensen and his treasures with his hands. It was Jensen then, who sullied Jared’s beautiful face with blood as he cradled it in his hands.

“Jared?” Jensen whispered, knowing he would not get an answer, and yet feeling crushed, like the shells of his siblings, when he was greeted by silence. “I should have died that day,” he thought. If he had, Jared would have been alive.

Another thing about dragons was that they never shed tears. They lost that ability over the centuries. But that day a single tear fell from Jensen’s green eyes and onto Jared’s cheek. It was a miracle, yes, but it wasn’t a miracle big enough to bring Jared back.

The Sun broke through the canopy of trees and the droplets of dew on the grass shone like stars on Earth. Jared had always called Jensen a Sun-child. “Then why”, Jensen wondered, “is the Sun shining so bright and beautiful when my world has gone dark?” Why did it look like the Sun was helping the rich green forests in building a perfect grave for his love, for his Jared? Why wasn’t the Sun burning red and scorching everything it touched?

If the Sun wouldn’t do it, he would do it himself. Jensen laid Jared back down on the moss floor where the sunlight touched the grass and arranged a halo made out of Lily of the Valley around Jared’s head. He took his time, picking each flower with great care with his shaking hands. If Jared were the one to do it, he would have done it better, Jensen thought. Jared had always been the one with delicate fingers. Jensen was the brute. The beast to Jared’s beauty.

Having done that, Jensen turned into his true form. What he turned into wasn’t a dragon, or Jared’s Jensen, but a _monster_.

The Dragon flew to the very peak of the Lonely Mountain and roared. As the people in The Village Between The Hills shivered in their skins, the Dragon breathed fire, the smoke of which turned the morning Sun blood red. The Dragon then flew over the village, breathing fire and setting many a house ablaze. Before long the fires flickered hungrily eating through wood and flesh alike.

Lovers embraced one another, mothers held their children to their bosoms, men threw water over their huts, while some ran in the direction of the forests. A voice echoed through all their minds.

_‘You called me a monster and took everything I hold dear away from me. Now you will get what you asked for – a monster. My winds will bring hurricanes, my fires will turn you to ashes and I shall breathe death upon all of you!’_

Tears filled Jensen’s eyes when they fell upon the cliff over which he and Jared had made love the night before. Vision blurred by them, Jensen breathed fire on everything and anything that he saw. He set the treetops on fire and the forests burned down, bringing death to the ground below them. In the village, the manure tanks exploded, raining burning embers down on the villagers. The flames, hissing and spitting in pale yellow shades flickered wildly, tentatively reaching to the rooftops next to them, spreading death and chaos as they went.

The villagers cried, begged, and screamed. Everywhere they ran, all they could see was a burning yellow. Smoke suffocated their lungs and the fires ate at their flesh. The Master, who had been wearing his finest silk, rolled on the ground, as the flames burned the skin on his back. A lone child stood crying in the middle of a street as the flames engulfed his favorite toy. A woman, having lost her child to a crumbling rooftop, ran through the village center, beating at her hair.

Jensen saw this all, and felt nothing. Like his Heart Stone, he gave away his heart to someone and that someone lay dead.

Perching on the bell tower of the village, Jensen breathed fire in all four directions, feeling nothing as the world burned to hell around him.

*

The Wizard that helped Jensen turn into a human was an old man, even by Wizard years. He was a shrewd and crafty man, but a good man nonetheless. As he walked down the Northern slope of the Lonely Mountain, on the other side of the raging fires, he cursed and muttered to himself about worthless apprentices who couldn’t handle their liquor. The North face of the Mountain seemed like paradise, while its South face resembled hell and the Wizard was ever grateful he was on the right side.

He found Jared’s body easily enough, although he had no idea what he could do with it. Perhaps, take it back to the Dragon and reacquaint him of his gentler side? He did not know. All he knew was that he needed to find the body of the Dragon’s mate, if only to apologize to the corpse and pray for the soul’s safe journey to the Neverlands.

On seeing the body, the Wizard knew that a miracle had occurred there – a miracle that didn’t bring the boy back, but perhaps a miracle that could.

Kneeling next to Jared’s body, the Wizard’s eye fell on the lone dragon tear that still rested perfectly still on Jared’s cheek, as if waiting for someone to come and tell it the purpose of its existence in the world. He took a blade of grass, collected the tear born out of true love on it and began chanting.

*

The village was a mere skeleton of what it was when Jared walked through it, but most of the people were alive and running in circles. Many of them had flames on their back while other rolled on the ground screaming. Children cried in the corners and mothers wept in front of their burning houses for the kids they never got to kiss goodbye. But there was still time.

Jared could see Jensen even from a distance, perched on the bell tower, breathing fire and destroying every house in the village, one after the other. As Jared drew closer to Jensen, he saw the fire in his chest, burning brighter than ever, like a second sun in the darkness brought upon by the smoke clouds.

“Jensen!” he screamed as he reached the bell tower. “Jensen! Please, stop!”

Jensen heard his voice, but didn’t _hear_ Jared. He screeched loudly at Jared, his fire flaring up in his chest.

“Jared!” Brother screamed from somewhere behind him. “Get away from the Dragon.”

Jared didn’t move an inch and stood before Jensen, sure that through the countless, faceless screams, and even through his own anguish, Jensen would hear him. “Jensen,” Jared whispered, for he knew Jensen could hear him, somewhere deep in his heart. He raised a hand up, reaching for his lover.

Jensen screeched at Jared once more, before something in him snapped and the fire burning in his eyes quelled.

_‘Jared,’_ he heard Jensen whisper in his head.

“Yes, it’s me.”

_‘Am I in the Neverlands? Did my own fires consume me like I wanted them to?’_

“No, Jensen. You are alive and so am I. The Wizard brought me back.”

_‘No. You are a trick that my broken heart is playing on me. Even a Wizard cannot bring someone back from the dead.’_

“They can, if they have the right ingredients. He needed dragon tears and it so happens that a certain dragon wept all over my body, ruining my tunic,” Jared said, laughing through his own tears.

_‘Jared, my love,’_ Jensen exclaimed as he flew away from the bell tower and landed on the streets. Jared extended a hand to him and Jensen met it halfway, butting against it with his head. As Jared rubbed at his neck, Jensen whispered, _‘I thought I’d lost you, forever.’_

“You will never lose me. I am yours as you are mine.”

“Kill him! Kill him!” the Master screamed. Jensen and Jared turned to look at him and found the whole village behind him, gawking open mouthed at them. “Where is the Archer?” the Master shouted.

_‘I burnt him alive,’_ Jared heard Jensen in his head, and so did the rest of the village, judging by their startled gasps.

“Find the Archer’s son. Kill him! He burnt my back! Kill him now, I say,” the Master screamed until his voice turned hoarse and cracked. Jared could feel Jensen getting ready to breathe fire again.

“No!” Jared screamed, standing between Jensen and the villagers, and surely between the villagers and their death.

“Jared, get away from that beast.”

“Shut up, father. One more word and I’ll have you burnt like a dead pigeon.”

Father gasped. “How dare-”

“Did you not hear what I just said?” Jared asked, not backing down. “Shut. Up. Dear father.” Jared then turned to the villagers. “Before you go calling the Dragon, Jensen, a monster, hear what I have to say. The Master has been taking far more cattle every season than what the Dragon demanded of him and has been selling the cattle in other towns. All these years, every family that had to starve for a whole season because they could not bear the burden of the sacrifice, could have lived happily if it were not for the Master. Think about it. Did you ever see the Dragon do anything monstrous or did you simply hear it from the Master – the same Master that led us all into starvation, twelve years earlier?” Jared screamed.

No one answered. The rage of the fires quelled down and in the silence left behind, as the villagers thought back, Jared could hear the embers burning out. Jared sensed Jensen growing uneasy with every moment Jared stood in full view of the people, completely understanding his mate’s need to protect him after what had already happened.

“What do you make of the ruin around you?” the Master asked, turning the villagers’ thoughts towards the Jensen again. “What explanation do you have for it?”

“You killed the Dragon’s mate,” Jared explained calmly. “What did you expect?”

“You mated with a dragon?” Father spat out. “You degenerate-” Jensen growled behind Jared and Father shut his mouth immediately.

“People of The Village Between The Hills,” Jared said aloud. “There is no compensation for what has happened here today, and even though many of you didn’t ask for it, you were the ones that provoked the Dragon. Jensen and I will leave you now to mourn your dead and all that you have lost. The Lonely Mountain belongs to you. You can still make a home on the Northern side, for it has been untouched by the flames. Whether you still choose the Master to be your leader is your choice. If you do, you will be building your own funeral pyre.”

“Jared, you can’t leave,” Stepmother said, stepping forward, with tears in her eyes, holding Little Sister at her hip. Jared always knew Stepmother, Little Sister and Brother loved him. But they never loved him enough to speak against Father and their love wasn’t enough to keep him in the village.

“I must leave,” Jared said. “No place that wouldn’t accept my mate can be my home.”

Jared turned around and Jensen was ready for him, lowering himself so Jared could climb onto his back. As the villagers watched in shock, the two lovers flew away from the burning hell, towards their paradise.

*

Jared stood in the middle of a golden field of rice, staring down at the valley below, breathing in the fresh air and humming a song of the Old to himself.

_‘Brace yourself, little human,’_ Jared heard Jensen say in his mind.

“I am not little,” he shouted at the Dragon in the sky, but braced himself anyway against the strong gust of wind as the Dragon landed.

“How much did they make?” Jared asked as Jensen turned into his human form.

“Your beautiful gold sculptures are earning quite a name. They are exquisite as always, not unlike their creator,” Jensen said, enjoying the blush that touched his mate’s cheeks at the compliment. “The King in the North gave me enough gold to last us through the next season and commissioned ten more.”

“And did you have your fill?”

“I caught a mountain lion today,” Jensen told him with a smirk and accepted the tunic that Jared offered, pulling it over his head.

“Am I supposed to find that impressive?” Jared asked, touching his fingers lightly to the pink scar on Jensen’s chest left behind by the removal of the Heart Stone.

“Perhaps I should bring my next big hunt and put it before your feet, so you can see how impressive I am,” Jensen said, pulling Jared into a kiss.

Before the kiss could turn heated, Jared pulled back. “Mmm… wash your mouth first. I can still taste lion. Yuck!”

“You do not have a dragon’s refined palate.”

“That is why I made myself lemon cakes,” Jared said, smirking. “Maybe I’ll have those meager human foods and you can keep your refined palate to yourself.”

“You would not share your food with your mate?” Jensen asked, acting aghast. “I made a terrible choice in choosing my mate.”

“If you even dream of another mate, I will hunt that dragon down and put an arrow right into its mouth and kill it,” Jared said, biting at Jensen’s lips.

Jensen laughed. “That wouldn’t kill a dragon and you know it. Luckily for you, I am yours as you are mine.”

“My dragon,” Jared whispered, pulling Jensen against him. He smiled when Jensen touched his forehead to Jared’s and closed his eyes, living in the moment.

The two lovers stood in each other’s embrace, as the Sun set behind them. When it turned dark they retreated into the cottage that they built over a great, beautiful valley full of singing birds, running rivers and blooming flowers. Jared never once questioned his worthiness of Jensen’s love and Jensen never felt like a monster when Jared touched him in his dragon form. In each other’s loving embrace, they lived their lives… happily ever after.

 

**The End**


	9. Art by sau1412

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm adding a new chapter to the story to showcase the amazing art by my friend Kido, who created some gorgeous art for this story even when she didn't have to. I hope you guys enjoy these pictures as much as I have and don't forget to leave give Kido some love. Check out her other art too. She's an awesome artist.  
> [Her tumblr post](http://wdcj.tumblr.com/post/143726208218/)  
> Her [Tumblr](http://wdcj.tumblr.com/), [Deviant Art](http://sau1412.deviantart.com/), [LJ](http://sau1412.livejournal.com/)

"The Master noticed none of this for all his eye could see was the sea of gold he now lay in. There was gold before him and gold behind him. Gold underneath him and gold all around him. The Master screamed in ecstasy at the sound of gold coins tinkling beneath his feet.

And then the Dragon rose."

 

 

-

 

"The fire in my heart was nothing more than burning embers and I was afraid. I couldn’t save them. By the time the hunters left and I emerged from my hiding spot my brothers and sisters were all crushed and my parents had fled. I like to think that my mother and father didn’t know I was alive, but sometimes I wonder if they deserted me for not protecting my brothers and sisters."

 

 

-

 

"Sometimes I see humans holding each other very close, with their whole bodies touching. Why do they do that? It seems rather uncomfortable."

“It’s how humans greet someone they love,” Jared said. “How do dragons do it?”

"Like this." Jensen brought his head close to Jared’s and touched the tip of his large forehead to Jared’s smaller one. Jared lifted his hand slowly and tentatively touched Jensen’s jaw

 

 

-

 

"The days dragged on and the words unspoken between Jared and Jensen piled up. The Dragon flew over the village more often in those days, scaring the villagers. One night Jared was sitting in the cowshed, having a conversation with Jensen in his mind, when the dragon flew overhead, blocking the moon’s light for a few short seconds. He heard that screech again, that call of longing, and his heart could ignore it no more. Jared decided he would go see Jensen come morning."

 

 

-

 

"Jared then opened his eyes slowly, not daring to look down and stretched a hand to pet at Jensen’s neck. When Jensen purred Jared could feel it in his own body, like he was a part of Jensen, like they were one being instead of two. He could feel the muscles in Jensen’s body move as he flapped his wings, he could feel the heat of his fire, could sense it when he was about to turn. And like Jensen had told him, it was like nothing he had ever felt before. He was flying."

 

 

-

 

“The view here is so beautiful,” Jared whispered, his eyes on the setting Sun.

_‘Yes, it is,’_ Jensen replied.

What Jared didn’t know was that Jensen wasn’t talking about the Sun or the stars that were just showing themselves. He was looking at Jared, bathed in the orange glow of the setting Sun, his face alight with happiness like he had never felt before.

 

 

-

 

"You called me a monster and took everything I hold dear away from me. Now you will get what you asked for – a monster. My winds will bring hurricanes, my fires will turn you to ashes and I shall breathe death upon all of you!"

 

 

-

 

"The two lovers stood in each other’s embrace, as the Sun set behind them. When it turned dark they retreated into the cottage that they built over a great, beautiful valley full of singing birds, running rivers and blooming flowers. Jared never once questioned his worthiness of Jensen’s love and Jensen never felt like a monster when Jared touched him in his dragon form. In each other’s loving embrace, they lived their lives… happily ever after."

 

 

-

**Author's Note:**

> Your comments, kudos, likes, reblogs, and feedback keep me going. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr [here](http://hafireika.tumblr.com/post/135901571057/lovers-by-a-lonely-mountain-masterpost).


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